CONTINUUM Serrano Point: 2028
by Alex Lecorn
Summary: Set after Born to Run. First in a series. John and Catherine go to the future to find John Henry, save Cameron, and discover the secrets to defeating SkyNet. Finished. Please Review.
1. Dramatis Personae

**CONTINUUM**  
**-Serrano Point: 2028-**  
**Dramatis Personae**

-John Connor; Human male, age 16; Future founder and Commander of the Resistance Assault Command

-Commander Vinc'hart (Savannah Weaver); Human female, age 28; Commander of the Serrano Point Resistance Movement

-Catherine Weaver; Shapeshifter: Series 1001 Terminator Infiltrator Unit, age Unknown

-Colonel Arbirn Ellis; Human male, age 38; Senior Officer within the Serrano Point Resistance Movement and Second in Command to Commander Vinc'hart

-Lieutenant Colonel Caroline Smith; Human female, age 35; Senior Officer within the Serrano Point Resistance Movement

-Lieutenant Colonel Derek Reese; Human male, age 33; Senior Officer within the Serrano Point Resistance Movement

-Specialist Allison Young; Human female, age 20; Enlisted Soldier within the Serrano Point Resistance Movement

-Michael Hellic; Human male, age 34; Engineer

-Captain Kyle Reese; Human male, age 26; Officer within the Serrano Point Resistance Movement

-Sergeant Hikaru Choi; Human male, age 24; NonCommissioned Officer within the Serrano Point Resistance Movement and member of Commander Vinc'hart's personal guard

-Private First Class Mathew Quail, Human male, age 22; Enlisted Soldier within the Serrano Point Resistance Movement and member of Commander Vinc'hart's personal guard

-John Henry; Cyborg male: Series 888 Terminator Infiltrator Model 207 (alt.), age 5 Months

-Major Frank Hess; Human male, age 36; Officer within the Serrano Point Resistance Movement

-Baum (Sarah Connor); Human female, DECEASED; Former Commander and founder of the Serrano Point Resistance Movement and John Connor's mother

-James (Ellision); Human male, DECEASED; Former Commander of the Serrano Point Resistance Movement

-First Lieutenant Alex Harris; Human male, age 25; Officer within the Serrano Point Resistance Movement and Captain of Commander Vinc'hart's personal guard

-Major Reagan Pinington; Human male, age 37; Officer within the Serrano Point Resistance Movement and Acting Commander of Serrano Point

-Major Hal Vrisy, age 37; Officer within the Serrano Point Resistance Movement and Commander of Hydroponics Lab IV

-First Lieutenant Jason Ridler, age 27; Officer within the Serrano Point Resistance Movement assigned to Hydroponics Lab IV

-Sergeant Harry Blitz, age 44; NonCommissioned Officer within the Serrano Point Resistance Movement

-Second Lieutenant Mark Pelt, age 21; Officer within the Serrano Point Resistance Movement


	2. Chapter I

**CONTINUUM**

**-Serrano Point: 2028-**

**Chapter One**

**-Monday, August 7 2028 (11:28)**

THE COMPANY OF SOLDIERS STOPPED NEXT TO A RUSTED LADDER. It was bolted to the wall of the tunnel they were in and went up to a large metal plate covering a hole in the ceiling. One of the soldiers quickly climbed up the ladder and hit the plate with the butt of his plasma-carbine three times. After a moment a voice from above called down: "Identification!"

The soldier on the ladder quickly replied, "Company C, Alpha-3-9-Victor-Sierra."

After a moment the plate was removed and the company started moving up the ladder and into the room above. Sixteen-year-old John Connor stood near the edge of the group wearing nothing but a borrowed trench coat and shoes. After a moment he turned to the young female Specialist standing next to him holding the leash to a large dog.

"A pass-code?" he asked.

The girl, Allison Young, nodded. "Yeah. Just encase a Terminator-Infiltrator manages to make it this far past the perimeter checkpoints."

John studied the plate, thinking about the incident with the bank vault door and Cromartie. "And that thing is supposed to hold back a Terminator?"

Allison shrugged. "Probable not for long, but once it broke through it would find about a dozen Plasma Rifles pointed at it, so..."

As they were near the edge of the group they had to wait a few minutes for everyone else to go up, and ended up being the last two in the tunnel. When it was their turn Allison went over to the ladder, looked at it, then at the dog, before finally turning back to face John. "You look big and strong. I think _you_ should carry the dog up."

John looked at the dog for a moment, then returned his gaze to Allison. Sighing, he stepped onto the bottom rung of the ladder while Allison lifted up the dog and deposited it into his arms. John almost fell to the ground, but managed to grab onto the edge of the ladder with his left hand.

"Geez, what has this dog been eating," he complained.

Allison cocked her head to the side while she considered the question, then shrugged. "We probable don't want to know," she said sagely.

John couldn't help starring at her. The way she had tilted her head a moment ago, it had reminded him of... John shook his head to clear it of the unwanted thoughts. _I'm not going there. Not again._

"Hey," a voice yelled down. "Are you two going to stay down there forever, or are you planning to maybe come up some time in the next ten years?"

"What, do you have somewhere to be?" Allison yelled back. She looked at John with a grin. "We should probably get a move on though."

"Right," John muttered as he slid his left hand up the edge of the ladder a few inches, and then put his left foot on the next rung. "You said we probably don't want to know." John said as he slowly moved up the ladder, the large dog occasionally squirming in his arms.

"What?" Allison asked as she started climbing up after him.

"The dog. You said that we probably don't want to know what he eats. Which means you don't know already. Why?"

"Actually, I think it's a she. And to answer your question, you see we found her, actually about the same time we found you. So I have no clue what she was eating before that, and, again, I probable don't want one."

John reached the top of the ladder where a soldier he didn't recognize took the dog out of his arms. John then quickly crawled off of the ladder and onto the floor of a large room. The entrances to several corridors were set along three of the walls with a large opening taking up most of the fourth. Judging by the orange light coming from it John guessed that it led outside. The group of soldiers he had been with were spread out around him. Several vehicles were parked near the exit, and large a number of crates were stacked around the walls. Allison followed him up a moment later.

"What is this place?" John asked looking around as he stood up.

"This," Allison said standing as well and then sweeping her arms out, "is the Serrano Point Nuclear Power Plant. It's served as our base of operations, well pretty much since the formation of our resistance cell."

Serrano Point. _Well, at least that much has stayed the same,_ John thought remembering how his uncle told him that in the future it would be captured and used by the resistance. Well, in the past now. _And speaking of Derek..._

The Derek Reese of this timeline was quickly making his way towards John and Allison. "Specialist Young," he said to Allison. "Take Mr. Connor here to the Quartermaster and get him some clothes, and have him assigned temporary quarters."

"What about the dog?" Allison asked.

Derek turned to one of the men in the company. "Private Marks, take the new dog to the kennels." He then turned and started walking towards one of the doors leading to the higher levels.

Marks came over and took the leash from Allison. Looking at him John guessed that they were about the same age.

"Right," Allison said, turning to face John. "Clothes. This way please." With that she turned and started walking towards the entrance to a corridor opposite the room's main entrance, with John following close behind.

**-12:02**

Vinc'hart, Commander of the Serrano Point Resistance Movement, sat behind her desk reviewing a report from her Second in Command, Colonel Arbirn Ellis. She had spent the last hour and a half reading it, hoping to discover something that she might have missed the first three times. Sighing, she put the folder back on her desk in defeat.

A sudden, sharp knock on the door caused her to look up. Eager for something that might distract her from what she had just read, Vinc'hart quickly called out "Enter," The door opened and one of her Senior Officers, Lieutenant Colonel Derek Reese, walked in.

Vinc'hart stood and moved around her desk to stand in front of him. "Colonel," she said, nodding to Derek.

"Ma'am," he said returning the nod.

"Was your patrol productive?"

"I'd say so. We had a run-in with a unit of skinless trip eights. We were able to destroy most of them while only suffering minimal casualties."

"Minimal?" Vinc'hart asked as she went back to her chair.

"Two dead, five wounded," Derek replied moving to face Vinc'hart from across the desk.

"How big was the unit?"

"About two hundred,"

"And you only suffered minimal casualties?"

"We got lucky."

"Maybe. How far out were they?" Vinc'hart asked.

"Almost seven miles from the perimeter." Derek answered.

"Any idea what they were doing there?"

Derek shook his head. "None."

"Alright," Vinc'hart said. "So, how did our new Captain do?"

"He did well. I'll be recommending in my report that his promotion be made permanent."

Vinc'hart nodded. "Good. Anything else?"

"Actually, yes. On our way back we found a refugee."

Vinc'hart shrugged. "Not that uncommon."

"He was completely naked."

_Okay, that's a little odd._ "Maybe he was robbed," Vinc'hart suggested tentatively. _He was naked,_ she knew that that had some potential significance, but she just couldn't remember what. "What's his name?" she asked offhandedly as she picked up a stack of papers and started rearranging them.

"Ah, Connor. John Connor."

The stack of papers slid out of Vinc'hart's hands and fell to the floor. "Jo- John Connor," she said quickly standing up. "About sixteen years old, brown hair, greenish eyes?"

"Yes," Derek replied quickly, gone from relaxed to fully alert in less than a second.

"Were is he now?"

"With Specialist Young, getting clothes." Derek said as he studied Vinc'hart, wondering who this John Connor was and why the name meant so much to his Commander.

"Go and get him please," Vinc'hart ordered, moving past the name of the unfamiliar Specialist.

"Yes Ma'am," Derek said grimly as he turned towards the door and reached for his gun.

"Colonel, wait," Vinc'hart called out laughing.

Derek turned to face her again, surprised by the sudden shift in his commander's attitude.

"You seem to have misunderstood me Colonel," Vinc'hart said with a smirk. "Mr. Connor posses no threat of danger to us, it's just that I've been waiting to meet him for a very long time. So if you could go and get him as quickly as possible I would appreciate it. Be nice about it though, he is probable wary enough as it is, no reason to alarm him."

"Yes Ma'am," Derek said, trying to hid his confusion. He removed his hand from his sidearm and left the room.

Still smiling, Vinc'hart sat down and prepared herself for the coming meeting.

**-12:37**

John and Allison left one of the base's supply deposes. John now wore an open grayish shirt with a tan t-shirt under it, brown pants and a pair of mismatched socks, along with the same shoes he had gotten earlier. Allison held the coat he had borrowed, saying that she would return it to 'Captain Reese' the next time she saw him.

Just then Derek came around the corner of the corridor they were standing in and walked over to them, causing Allison to immediately go to attention. "At ease, Specialist," he muttered. "Mr. Connor," he said to John, "the Commander would like to see you."

"Vinc'hart?" Allison asked in surprise.

"No Young, the _other_ Commander," Derek said sarcastically, then looked back at John, at which point Allison rolled her eyes. "I saw that Young," Derek said, still looking at John. "Specialist, isn't there something you should be doing?"

"Ah, right, I should probable go give your brother his coat back," Allison said.

The corners of Derek's mouth lifted in a small smirk. "After you arrange quarters for Mr. Connor here."

"After arranging quarters, yes sir," Allison looked at John. "Goodbye," she said, then turned and walked away.

"If you'll follow me, Mr. Connor," Derek continued walking down the corridor with John following closely behind him.

"So this Commander Vinc'hart, he's your leader?" John asked as they walked.

"She. And yes." Derek replied.

"And why does she want to meet me?"

Derek shook his head. "Kid, I honestly have no idea. You're not in any trouble or anything like that, she just, wants to meet you. You can ask her why when you see her. In fact, please do, I'd like to know myself."

The two of them walked in silence for several minutes. They went up several staircases and passed more then a few people along the way, most of whom barely gave them a glance, except for the occasional nod at Derek. Finally they came to a long corridor with a single door at the end. Standing at the entrance to the hallway were six guards.

"I'm here to see the Commander," Derek said. "She wants to meet Connor here."

The lead guard nodded and stepped aside. John and Derek made their way over to the door, which Derek knocked on. A moment later a female voice on the other side bid them to enter. Derek opened the door and he and John went into the room. It was fairly small, a desk in the center with three chairs positioned around it, two on the side facing the door with the other one on the desk's other side. John also noticed a small cot in one corner. In the far chair sat a woman in her mid to late twenties. She had red hair, pale blue eyes, and light skin.

John and the woman stared at each other for a moment. Then she stood. "You may leave Colonel," she said looking at Derek. He hesitated for a moment, then turned and silently left the room. The woman turned her attention to John. "Hello Mr. Connor," she said.

"Hi," John replied. He looked at her for a moment. "I'm guessing that you're Commander Vinc'hart."

Vinc'hart nodded. "Though that's not my real name," she informed him.

"Oh," John said neutrally, while wonder just where this conversation was going, and why this woman seemed so interested in him when no one else was.

"You don't recognize me do you?" Vinc'hart asked. She shrugged. "Not that there's any reason you would, I was a lot young. But it's wired, you see; I remember you. In fact, I remember you very well, considering we only met a few times about twenty years ago."

She sat down and grinned. "My name's Weaver, Savannah Weaver."


	3. Chapter II

**CONTINUUM**

**-Serrano Point: 2028-**

**Chapter Two**

**-Monday, August 7 2028 (13:02)**

"You don't recognize me do you?" Vinc'hart asked. She shrugged. "Not that there's any reason you would, I was a lot young. But it's wired, you see; I remember you. In fact, I remember you very well, considering we only met a few times about twenty years ago."

She sat down and grinned. "My name's Weaver, Savannah Weaver."

John's eyes widened somewhat, but other then that he showed no outward signs of surprise. "Savannah?"

Vinc'hart/Savannah leaned back in her chair. "Yes."

John studied the woman seated before him, looking for some hint of the young girl he had meet. After a moment he opened his mouth. "..."

The door burst open and Derek and a man John didn't recognize entered the room. "Commander," the unknown man said, "We have a problem. It's the dogs; they've gone completely mad. As in terminator."

"Why aren't the alarms going off?" Savannah asked as she stood.

"Apparently we're having problems with the PA," Derek said.

Savannah opened one of the drawers in her desk, pulled out another gun, and tossed it to John. "Where?"

"The kennels."

"Right, lets go," Savannah said moving towards the door. "By the way," she pointed to the soldier, then John, "John Connor, Major Frank Hess. Major Hess, John Connor."

"Ma'am, we need to get you to a safe location," Derek said moving after her.

"Yeah, right," Savannah went out into the corridor and up to the lead guard. "Lieutenant Harris, you know what's going on?"

The soldier nodded.

"Good, we're going to the kennels. Have two of your men take point, the rest to the rear."

"But Ma'am..." he protested.

"Now Lieutenant."

The guard nodded reluctantly. "Yes Ma'am. Trevor, Choi, point. The rest of you to the back." The group quickly moved forward, going down several corridors until they reached a metal stairwell. Looking over the edge John guessed that it went down about twenty floors. Seeing that the stairs continued up from their floor he then looked up._ I'd guess another two, three floors._

"The kennels are on Sub-Level 2," Derek said. "This stairwell goes all the way down to S-L 5, we should be able to get down there from here."

"Right, let's move then," Savannah said. Trevor and Choi started moving down the stairs, followed by Savannah and Derek, then John and Frank, with Harris and the other three guards taking up the rear. As they descended down through the building they came across a number of people, some aware of what was going on, most not. Savannah ordered a few of them to join their group, the rest to secure their floors and inform everyone who did not already know of the situation.

"Hey," John said to Frank, "I get the PA being down, but why don't you use radios?"

The group reached the ground floor and started moving down to the first Sub-Level.

"We have limited resources. Most of the available hand held radios are used by our patrols and other bases."

Finally the group reached Sub-Level 2. Another eight people had joined them. They slowly moved out into the corridor with weapons raised. Just then three soldiers came around the next corner.

"What's going on here," Savannah asked stepping forward. "Who's in charge?"

"Captain Reese, Ma'am," one of the soldiers said. "He's right around the corner, with a group of men next to the entrance to the kennels."

"Right, as you were," Savannah said as she moved forward again and rounded the next corner. The rest of the group followed with the two guards originally assigned to take point trying unsuccessfully to move out ahead of their Commander in case there was some kind of danger.

They came into a long plain hallway. Along one of the walls was a large double door with two dozen soldiers standing outside it.

One of them, who John recognized as his 'father', stepped forward. "Commander," he said addressing Savannah.

"Captain Reese, just what the hell is going on here?" Savannah asked.

"Were not entirely sure, Ma'am," Kyle said. "About twenty-five minutes ago the dogs went completely wild, then a few minutes latter they calmed down again. We've sent out several teams with a few radios to do a complete sweep of the facility, but so far nothing."

Savannah nodded. "Do you have any idea where Pinington is?"

"No Ma'am," Kyle said shaking his head. "We've haven't been able to find him."

"Alright, we need to start doing head counts. Make sure everyone who is supposed to be here is, and that they haven't been replaced with metal."

"We're already working on it."

"Good. Carry on Captain," Savannah said. She turned to Frank. "Find out what happened here Major, and make sure it doesn't happen again. If we're lucky this is all just a false alarm, but if that's the case I would like to avoid a repeat of it in the future."

"Yes Ma'am."

"And would someone fix the damn PA, if this had been an attack we would probably all be dead by now."

**-14:16**

After half an hour of listening to reports that all appeared to be well, having a dog sniff them to make sure that they were really human, and a small lunch, John and Savannah were on their way back to Savannah's office to continue their conversation. They rounded the last corner with Savannah's guards around them when they saw Catherine Weaver standing at the end of the corridor wearing what looked like a resistance soldier's uniform, minus rank insignia.

"Who the hell are you?" Lieutenant Harris said as he and his team raised their plasma rifles and pointed them at Catherine. She simply stood there, eyes locked on her 'daughter'. The moment she saw her Savannah went completely still, and all the blood left her face.

"I asked you a question!" Harris yelled taking a step forward.

"It's alright Lieutenant," Savannah said. "I need to speak with this," she paused for a moment, "_woman_. Take up your normal positions."

"Are you sure Ma'am," Harris asked eying Catherine suspiciously.

"Do as you're told Lieutenant!" Savannah snapped.

"Yes Ma'am," Harris and the rest of the soldiers lowered their weapons and stepped back.

"Mr. Connor, come," Savannah said as she approached Catherine and the door to her office. Stepping past the machine that had pretended to be her mother, Savannah opened the door and motioned for Catherine and John to enter. She then followed them in and closed the door behind her. She went over to stand behind her desk and after a moment folded her arms across her chest.

"I'm guessing that you're behind the recent excitement." Savannah said. "And how did you get in here anyway!"

"In your facility, or the hallway outside of your office?" Catherine asked with her customary Scottish accent.

"Pick one," Savannah replied dryly.

Catherine smiled. "Perhaps it would be easier if I just tell you what I have been doing for the past two days."

Savannah shrugged. "By all means."

"Maybe you would like to sit down?" Catherine suggested. Savannah just stared at her. "Or perhaps not."

"Wait," John said stepping forward. "You know who she is?" he said pointing at Savannah. Catherine nodded. "How?"

"I came in here and found some DNA samples. Skin fragments and such. I considered waiting for you in here, but decided things would be better if I met you outside. Less likely to become violent."

"Good thinking." Savannah said with a small, would-be smile.

"And one more thing on a completely unrelated topic," John looked at Savannah, "How did you come by the name Vinc'hart anyway?"

Savannah looked at John for a moment, and after deciding that his question was legitimate and deserved an answer before having her 'mother' explain herself, she sat down with a sigh. "It was your mother, Sarah's idea. She didn't want a terminator to be sent back to kill me in the past, so she had me start using this alias shortly before J-Day. I'm not sure how she came up with 'Vinc'hart', but she wanted something unique so a terminator wouldn't be sent to kill someone else by mistake. As it turns out it was an unnecessary measure, but I'll get into that in a moment."

"My mother?" John asked quickly.

Savannah looked at him sadly. "She died, September 8, 2014. Killed by an aerial drone, a forerunner of the HK," Savannah seemed to consider something for a moment. "I'd appreciate it if you both continued to refer to me as Vinc'hart whenever we're in danger of being overhead."

"Now," she said looking at Catherine again, "You were about to explain something?"

Catherine clasped her hands behind her back. "Shorty after our arrival in this time period a group of resistance soldiers came along. And while I was sure they would accept Mr. Connor here as human, I might not have been so fortunate."

"Yeah," Savannah said with a smirk. "There really good at that sort of thing. Rather necessary for their survival and all."

Catherine raised an eyebrow at her. "You know, if you're so eager to hear this then you should probably refrain from unnecessary interruptions."

Savannah's smirk grew larger. "Sorry," she said, then leaned forward and rested her elbows on the desk in mock anticipation. "Go on."

Catherine's eyebrow rose even farther. "It occurred to me that if I became something else, say a dog, I could travel with them without drawing too much attention."

"WHAT!" John sputtered. "You were the _dog_!" he said incredulously.

"Wait, _what_?" Savannah said in confusion.

John sank onto one of the chairs on the other side of Savannah's desk. "About the same time they found me they came across this dog. We took it back to the base with us." John suddenly sat up. "Wait, I thought that you guys had to be something human shaped, or about the same size. It was a big dog, but not that big."

Catherine nodded. "That was the T-1000. I am a T-1001, our shape-shifting abilities are somewhat more advanced," She suddenly grinned. "And by the way Mr. Connor, I highly resent the implication that I weigh a lot."

John slowly sank as far into his chair as he could, his cheeks growing warm despite himself. "You know," he said slowly, "I think I would be just as happy if that was never brought up again," He glared at Catherine. "Ever."

Savannah stared at the two of them for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't even want to know," she leaned back in her chair. "So why didn't the other dogs in the group do anything?"

John shook his head. "There weren't any others."

"No," Savannah leaned forward again, "there were," she closed one eye as she thought for a moment. "They brought two with them. It's standard procedure to bring at least one on a mission like that, and they brought two."

"On the way here I overheard two of the soldiers talking," Catherine said. "According to them the dogs were killed in a skirmish with a SkyNet platoon."

"Both of them?" _That's wired,_ Savannah thought. _The dogs usually aren't the ones in the most danger_. "Well, I think I can fill in the blanks from here. You come back here, are taken to the kennels, meet the other dogs, they go crazy and all hell breaks loose, you slip away in the chaos, and here we are. Did I miss anything?"

Catherine shook her head. "I believe you have it."

There was a moment of silence. "Alright," John said slowly, "now that we've got the preliminaries out of the way, is there some kind of plan or something?"

"Perhaps Savannah should start by giving us an overview of what has happened in the last twenty years." Catherine suggested.

Savannah nodded. "Alright," She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. "Judgment Day was November 8, 2010. I was ten. We, that is, Sarah, James Ellison, and I spent the first few weeks after the bombs fell underground gathering survivors. Then, per your instructions, we relocated here."

"Wait, what?" John said. "What instructions?"

"When John Henry and Cameron traded places he left her detailed instructions as to what we were to do. She ended up being destroyed by SkyNet several weeks after you two left in a cyber-attack, but not before she was able to tell Sarah and James everything they needed to know."

"She was destroyed?" John asked softly.

Savannah nodded. "I'm sorry."

"It dose not matter," Catherine said dismissively. "All we have to do is go back to a point in time before it happens and we will be able to prevent it."

"Perhaps," Savannah said. "We'll get to that later. Anyway, we came here and found the place all ready for us. Shortly after a SkyNet terminator almost blew the whole place up it was bought by a ZeiraCorp shell company. Made sure the entire facility was prepared for us. Thanks for that by the way," she added to Catherine, "Sarah laid the groundwork for our organization. After her death James took over."

"Now at this point I think I should point out a major change in the timeline. From what Sarah told us John leads a global resistance movement?"

"That is more or less correct," Catherine confirmed. "Though perhaps a bit oversimplified."

"Well, it didn't work out that way," Savannah said. "An organized global movement was formed, but SkyNet took out the High Command ten years ago. Attempts were make to reorganize, but nothing ever came of it. Those groups that survived ended up forming their own isolated cells. The control of this organization only extends out a few miles around Serrano Point."

"But wouldn't that let SkyNet simple pick you off one by one?" John asked.

Savannah nodded. "That's exactly what's happened. We've survived this long by virtue of the fact that we're one of the more powerful and better organized groups, while at the same time one of the least aggressive. SkyNet has been focusing on the weaker and/or more, troublesome, groups. However that's about to change."

Savannah picked up the report lying on her desk. "This was written by my second in command, Colonel Ellis. It contains an estimation of SykNet's forces compared to our own, as well as recent troop movements. To summarize, SkyNet is going to lunch a full-scale attack against us sometime in the next two to five months. We're expected to be overwhelmed and defeated in seven to fifteen."

"Is there anything that can be done?" John asked.

Savannah shook her head. "No. And it doesn't matter, does it," she said rather pointedly to Catherine.

John turned to look at Catherine as well. "What dose she mean?"

"Mr. Connor, whether or not SkyNet wins in this timeline is irrelevant," Catherine said.

"_Irrelevant_?" John repeated incredulously.

Catherine nodded. "Once we return to the past everything that has happened will be rewritten."

John sighed in exasperation. "So why are we here? Why did your John Henry take Cameron's CPU, why did he come here?"

"The reason for John Henry's presence here is so that he can infiltrate SkyNet," Catherine explained. "Get into one of its secure facility and hack into its mainframe. Hopefully find information pertaining to its origins that could be used to destroy it."

Savannah nodded. "Which I'm guessing is why you didn't want us to ever reprogram a Terminator. In this timeline the idea that we could turn one of its Infiltrators against it is something that SkyNet has never had to deal with. Therefor SkyNet's security systems will be loser. As long as John Henry is careful he should be able to move unnoticed."

John considered everything he had heard for a moment. Finally he looked up at Savannah and asked, "And your okay with this, the fact that you and your people have basically doomed them to make sure a fact finding mission is successful?"

"We didn't doom ourselves for the sake of this mission," Savannah said. She held up her hands to forestall John's objections. "We were doomed when the global coalition failed. No one group was powerful enough to defeat SkyNet. If we had tried on our own we would have been destroyed a long time ago. Which should be a lesson to you Mr. Connor. You may be destined to save the world, but you're not going to do it alone."

Savannah paused for a moment. "There is one potentially massive problem. As I've said, SkyNet has had a much easier time of things here. After developing the T-800 Cyborg several years ago we have seen nothing to indicate the development of more advanced technologies. There has been no sign of the T-1000, or any indication that SkyNet is experimenting with time travel. Which makes sense, SkyNet is already wining, why change history. However, it means that, to my knowledge, there is no way to send you back."

Catherine smiled. "You seem to have forgotten something, Savannah. I had a Temporal Displacement Transporter built into the ZeiraCorp basement."

"So you know how to build one?" Savannah asked.

Catherine nodded. "I can give your engineers the technical specifications."

"Cool," Savannah opened one of her desk drawers and pulled out a blank notebook, picked a pen up from off her desk, and tossed them both to Catherine who placed them in the empty chair. "You can work on that once we're done here. So, how are we going to know when John Henry is done?"

"He will find a way to contact us." Catherine said confidently.

"What about Cameron," John asked.

"Getting her a new CPU shouldn't be a problem," Catherine said. "We will have to find a way to take it back with us, but I'm sure we will think of something."

Just then someone knocked on the door. "Enter," Savannah said.

Frank opened the door and came into the room. He gave a curious glance to Catherine, then turned to face Savannah. "We've completed our sweep of the base, we found nothing out of the ordinary. Also, all internal communications systems are back up."

"Good," Savannah said. "Mr. Connor, who was it again that Colonel Reese had assigned to help you?"

"Specialist Allison Young."

"Alright. Major Hess, find this Specialist and have her give Mr. Connor a tour of the base. Also, have someone arrange quarters for Mrs. Weaver as well," Savannah gestured towards her 'mother'. "In the mean time I need to speak with her alone. Mr. Connor, if you could go with Major Hess."

John stood. "Alright," he said. He and Frank started for the door when Savannah called out.

"Mr. Connor, while I do trust you, and plan to make that trust public knowledge very soon, until then it would be better if you not go about armed," Savannah said nodding at the Beretta tucked into the front of John's pants.

"Oh, right." John went over to Savannah's desk and placed the borrowed weapon on top of it. Then he turned and followed Frank out of the room.

Savannah stared at Catherine for a moment. "Do you know where her body is? Cameron's. I was told that you took it forward with you."

Catherine shook her head. "Her body was destroyed in transit, to much damage sustained to her biological covering for it to survive the jump."

Savannah gave Catherine a hard stare. "John doesn't know dose he, otherwise he would have wanted more then the promise of finding a replacement chip."

"All he knows is that her body did not come forward with us. When John Henry contacts us we will be able to inform him of the situation, he might be able to come up with a solution. Until then I see no reason why Mr. Connor should know."

"What if he asks what happened to her body? He probably thinks it was left in the past, he'll want to know what happened to it."

"If he asks we will of course tell him the truth, lying would be counterproductive in the long run." Catherine studied Savannah for a moment. "You thought that her body came forward with us, why would you want to have this conversation without John Connor. Unless there is something else you would like to discuses."

Savannah nodded. "There is," She looked down. They remained silent for several minutes, Catherine standing patiently and completely still in a way that only a machine could, giving every indication that she was quite willing to wait forever for the women siting across form her to speak. Finally Savannah looked up. Her eyes locked with Catherine's. "Did you kill my parents?" she asked suddenly.

For the first time that day Savannah saw what she though might be genuine emotion form the Shape-Shifter: surprise. There were no real outward signs of it, but at the same time the other woman just seemed to radiate it. In another situation it might have caused Savannah to smirk.

Catherine stared at Savannah, taken completely off guard by the question. After a moment she shook her head. "No, I did not. Your parents died in a helicopter crash, for which I was in no way responsible." Catherine looked at Savannah, trying to determine her thoughts from what she knew about human facial expressions. Unfortunately, Savannah's face was completely blank. "You don't believe me do you?" she finally asked quietly.

Savannah considered the question for a moment. Suddenly she tilted her head back and let loss a humorless laugh. If Catherine had been surprised before, it was nothing compared to how she felt now.

After a moment Savannah quieted down and looked at the machine and shrugged. "It doesn't matter, does it. It's not like I would do anything about it," She shook her head. "I've spent to much time and energy, sacrificed to much to throw it all away for personal vengeance," She leaned forward suddenly. "But you are going to have to convince the other me. And you should do it before J-Day. After the bombs fall she, I, will need to be able to trust you completely. There can be nothing that might compromise that."

Catherine considered this for a moment. "What if we stop Judgment Day, stop SkyNet," she asked curiously.

"Stop SkyNet..." Savannah laughed again. "If you stop SkyNet, then you have my permission to do whatever the hell you want. Pretend to be my biological mother for the rest of my life, I'm sure that you would be able to pull it off," Savannah shrugged again. "Unless of course Sarah Connor and the others decide to stop you, which is a definite possibility." Savannah pressed the button on the small intercom on her desk. "Have quarters been arranged for Mrs. Weaver yet," she asked.

"Who?" a voice said from the speaker. "Wait a moment, Uh, yes Ma'am, they have."

"Good, sent someone up here to show her to them." Savannah removed her finger from the button and looked back at Catherine. "Tell me, why didn't you just kill me when you assumed the identity of my mother. I'm sure you could have made it look like an accident."

Catherine considered the question for a moment. While it was true she could have easily done it, and she probably would have gained more sympathy from people if she had, giving her an even grater excuse for her 'obsession with her work', she had never been able to bring herself to truly consider doing so. It had been... unthinkable. "Savannah," she said suddenly, "What ever else you believe, know that I never intended to hurt you. I know that I did, but..."

Savannah looked at Catherine tiredly, suddenly looking much younger, and somehow at the same time much older, then her age of twenty-eight.

There was a knock on the door. "Enter," Savannah called out. The door opened and a female Private First Class entered the room. "I'm here to escort Mrs. Weaver to her room," she said.

Savannah nodded almost reluctantly and Catherine picked up the notebook and pen up from off the chair, then turned and walked over to the door. "I know," Savannah said softly.

Catherine came to a stop and looked back at Savannah. The two stared at each other for a moment, before Catherine broke eye contact and looked back at the door. She was about to leave when she was struck by a sudden thought, almost surprised she didn't think of it earlier. "Vinc'hart," she said turning back to face Savannah again, "What ever happened to James Ellison?"

"He was killed, November 3, 2024, by one of the first T-800 Infiltrators."

Catherine nodded. "I see," she said, then left the room, closing the door behind her and leaving a very troubled Savannah Weaver.


	4. Chapter III

**CONTINUUM**

**-Serrano Point: 2028-**

**Chapter Three**

**-Monday, August 7 2028 (16:28)**

After giving him a tour of the non-restricted areas of the base Allison lead John to his room. As they had walked around John had noticed that Serrano Point seemed to have two areas: parts that made up the original power plant and sections that had obviously had been added on later, and that seemed to have no obvious place in a nuclear power plant, through they were very useful for a military base. Finally they came to a stop outside one of the doors set along a hallway.

"Right, Barracks: Third floor, section C, room 57. We're here," Allison said. She opened the door and followed John into the room. It was fairly small; it had one cot that by itself took up more then a third of the room. Next to it was a table with a chair and a lamp on it. Taking up all the space between the foot of the cot and the wall was an empty trunk. "So, what do you think?" Allison asked.

John shrugged. "It'll do."

Allison glanced around the room. "Yeah, on the one hand it's about half the size of my own quarters, but then again I'm bunked with three other people, so..." Allison glanced back at John. "Hell, I guess for a tunnel rat though this is pretty nice."

"Tunnel rat?" asked in confusion.

Allison winced. "Sorry, no offense."

"Ah, none taken."

"Okay," Allison said. "Well, you remember where this is in relation to, everything else?"

John nodded. "Yeah."

"Good. You should go back to the Quartermaster, get a few changes of clothes and some other, essentials. He'll be expecting you. I showed you were the mess hall is, Breakfast is usually between 6:15 and 8:30, Lunch is 11:30 to 1:40, and Dinner is 5:30 to 7:00. There's also usually something from 2 to 3 for the graveyard people. Looked like there was a rest room at the end of the corridor. Other then that it would probably be best if you stay here until something else is figured out."

"I understand."

"Alright, well, bye."

John nodded. "Right, see you."

Allison turned and left the room, closing the door behind her. After a moment John went and sat down on the bed.

**-Tuesday, August 8 2028 (10:14)**

Catherine approached the captain of the guards standing outside the door to Savannah's office holding the notebook she had been given the previous day. "I would like to speak with Commander Vinc'hart," she said.

Harris nodded. Apart from him there was only one other guard from the previous day. "Private Glen, inform the Commander that Mrs. Weaver would like to speak with her," One of the guards turned and went over to the door. He knocked on it, then opened it and stuck his head inside.

"Mrs. Weaver is here. She says that she needs to talk to you," Catherine heard him say. After a moment he looked back at Catherine and waved her over. "She'll see you."

Catherine walked passed the guards and into the office, closing the door behind her. She went over to the desk and placed the notebook on it. "I've completed the designs you wanted," she said to Savannah, who was siting on the desk's other side. Savannah picked the notebook up and looked through it. She saw a number of complex diagrams, most of which she didn't understand.

"I'll give this to one of my engineers, see what they can make of it," Savannah said putting the notebook back down. "You said yesterday that John Henry would contact us once he was done. Do you have any idea how he's going to do that?"

"He will most likely send some kind of radio transmission. If you look at the last page of that notebook you will see a list of frequencies and codes he will probably use based on my knowledge of SkyNet communications systems from my original timeline."

Savannah picked the notebook back up and opened it to the last page. "Do you have any idea when he'll make contact?" she asked as she tore the page out.

"John Henry should have arrived about two weeks before myself and Mr. Connor. He will most likely be another week or two."

"Alright. Is there anything else?" Catherine shook her head. "I'm going to have a meeting with my senior officers tomorrow in order to explain the situation to them. I want you and John to be there."

Catherine folded her arms across her chest. "Are you sure that's a good idea? It might be better to keep them in the dark."

"_Really_."

"Yes. We have no idea how they will react to this information. It would be best to not tell them."

"Look _Catherine_, I'm going to have a fucking _time machine_ built!" Savannah said waving the notebook. "I spent a good part of yesterday having a secret meeting with a sixteen year old boy nobody has ever seen before, not to mention you, and then there is the whole business with John Henry. I have to tell them _something_. The truth seams to be the easiest and safest choice."

"They may not like what's going on," Catherine warned.

Savannah shook her head. "There are parts of this _I_ don't like. If that's all, there are things I need to do."

Catherine nodded. "Of course," With that she turned and left.

**-14:27**

"Kyle!" Derek yelled at his brother, who was about to walk around the corner of the hallway they were in. "Kyle!"

The younger Reese stopped and turned around, scanning the corridor for the person who had been calling his name. After a moment his eyes fell on Derek, who was making his way towards him. "Yeah," Kyle said once Derek came to a stop next to him.

"Come," Derek said, and the two continued walking down the hallway. "Your promotion to Captain has been made permanent," Derek said after a moment.

"So I did well?" Kyle asked.

Derek nodded. "Your tactics when we ran into that unit of trip eights were particularly impressive. Your going to need to form your own company, leading those kinds of patrols is going to be one of your primary duties."

"I already have some people in mind."

"Good," Derek stopped and turned to face his brother. "You did well, Kyle."

"Thanks."

"I'll want a list of candidates for you unit by the end of the week."

Kyle nodded. "Yes sir."

"See you later," With that Derek turned and started walking back the way he came.


	5. Chapter IV

**CONTINUUM**

**-Serrano Point: 2028-**

**Chapter Four**

**-Wednesday, August 9 2028 (15:22)**

John stood near the edge of the conference room and watched as the various members of the resistance command arrived. It was a fairly large room, dominated by the wooden table in its center. It was also the first room that John had come across to have any windows, though admittedly he didn't find the post apocalyptic vista very appealing.

"Good afternoon Mr. Connor," Startled, John turned around to find himself face to face with Catherine.

"Ah, yeah, you too," he replied.

"Tell me," Catherine said stepping closer. "Do you know what the purpose of this gathering is?"

John shook his head. "No. Ah, some soldier showed up at my quarters and said that, Vinc'hart, wanted me to come to some kind of meeting."

"She's planning on telling them why we're here," Catherine said.

"Oh, well... wait a minute. If you already knew, then why did you ask me?"

"Because I wanted to know if you knew."

"Right. So is this good or bad or...?"

Catherine shook her head. "That remains to be seen."

"Right," John went back to looking around the room until Savannah walked over to them.

"How have you been?" she asked John.

"Alright. Weaver says that you called this meeting to tell your people what's going on."

"Basically, yes. Though on that note there are a few things we should talk about first."

"Like what?" John asked.

"Well, mainly my relationship with, _her_," Savannah nodded at Catherine._ "_I would prefer if it remain secret."

The T-1001 stared at her. "Because you plan to tell them what I am."

"There's a good chance that will happen, yes. For obvious reasons we perform random sweeps of the base using dogs, I can't let you be discovered that way. And arranging it so that you always avoid them would be difficult, not to mention suspicious," Savannah rubbed her forehead. "Look, just let me do most of the talking," she said.

"Alright. So, who are these people?" John asked looking around the room.

"Ah, well the guy over there with the small beard and reddish hair is my second in command, Colonel Arbirn Ellis," Savannah said. "The woman with the blond hair talking to him is another one of my senior officers, Lieutenant Colonel Caroline Smith. The two of you already know Colonel Reese; the man he is talking to is this base's acting commander, Major Reagan Pinington. While I'm officially the commander of Serrano Point, Pinington is usually in charge of the day-to-day operations. The woman standing by herself next to the far window is Eugenie DeMarco; she's my medical adviser. And the two men who just entered are Arthur Currie, the civilian liaison and Michael Hellic, one of my head engineers," Savannah looked around the room. "And that should be everyone." After a few moments Savannah went over to the head of the table and directed everyone to take their seats. Catherine and John were told to sit on ether side of Savannah.

Once everyone was settled Savannah spoke. "I've called you all here to make you aware of certain, developments, that have occurred recently. I want you all to bear with me on this, it's going to sound a bit far fetched at first," Savannah fell silent for a moment as she tried to figure out what to say next. "You're all probably wondering who these two are," she indicated Catherine and John, "As some of you know they both arrived here two days ago. Upon their arrival I spent over an hour talking with them. A conversation I have so far refused to tell any of you a thing about. Well here goes," Savannah took a breath. "They're from the past. And by that I mean that they used a time machine to jump forward form the year 2008.

"They're here to collect intelligence about SkyNet. Who creates it, how it gets built and how it takes over," Savannah paused for a second, and then continued. "Time travel tech was originally developed by SkyNet. Soon after it was stolen by the resistance. Both sides have used it to send agents back to before J-Day in an attempt to change the future, or to foil the other side's attempts to change the future. However, in this, timeline, SkyNet dose not seem to have developed this technology."

Savannah stopped speaking and there were several minutes of silence as everyone in the room tried to absorb what they had just been told. Finally someone spoke. "Why hasn't the technology been developed in this timeline?" Michael Hellic asked. Savannah nodded to Catherine to answer the question.

"Generally at this point the resistance is much more powerful and organized," Catherine said. "Commander Vinc'hart says she believes SkyNet has not developed the technology in this timeline because it did not fell the need. A conclusion that I agree with. SkyNet's development of time travel technology was a desperate action to help win a war it feared it might lose, which is not the case here. As for why the resistance has done so much worse in this timeline, it could be due to several things. SkyNet's attempts to change major past events may have succeeded," Catherine looked at Savannah questioningly, wondering if she should mention the other reason why things had happened differently. Savannah gave a discreet shake of her head. Her people didn't need to know about John's true significance. About how his jumping forward had deprived the resistance of vital leadership. When this, mission, was over it wouldn't matter anyway.

Savannah leaned forward. "My guess is that either General Ashdown and the resistance command were never destroyed in previous timelines, or someone was supposed to have taken over afterward, but didn't."

"Okay," Arbirn said slowly, "So these two have come forward in time to collect information about SkyNet so they can fight it, or maybe even prevent its creation. But if time travel technology doesn't exist in this, timeline, then how are they going to go back?"

Savannah looked at Michael. "Have you gotten a chance to look over those designs I gave you?"

Hellic nodded. "Yes Ma'am. If I understand them correctly we should be able to build, whatever it is. The best place would probably be the number four storage bay on S-L 5."

"Well then, courtesy of Catherine Weaver here, we now have the ability to build our own Temporal Displacement Transporter," Savannah said.

"Alright," Arbirn said, "So someone from the future showed you," he nodded at Catherine, "how to build a time machine. But why didn't they just tell you everything you needed to know about how SkyNet gets created?"

"Actually, she was from the future herself," Savannah said. "And as for why this fact finding mission was necessary, we don't know much about how SkyNet was created, managed to get control of the United State's ICBMs, or its activities in the first two or three years after J-Day. It makes sense that our counterparts in previous timelines wouldn't either. SkyNet is probably the only one who can give an accurate account of its activities. So another agent was sent back before these two in order to infiltrate a SkyNet facility and steal the appropriate information."

"How is he going to do that?" Derek asked. "It's impossible, SkyNet's soldiers kill all humans on sight. There is no way that someone could infiltrate one of its bases, steal all of this information, then get back here without being caught."

Savannah took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. _They're _really_ not going to like this._ "He could if he's not human. The infiltrator, he's a reprogrammed terminator."

"A _what_!"

"A reprogrammed terminator. In, other timelines, the resistance has been known to capture and reprogram some of SkyNet's terminators. And while most of the agents they sent back were human..."

"You're joking!" Caroline said.

Savannah sighed. "Unfortunately no."

"How do you know all of this?" Arbirn asked suddenly. "Why are you so quick to believe everything they've told you?"

"Actually, they've told me very little. I've known most of this for a very long time. And so did my predecessors. Remember this base's first commander, Baum?" Savannah nodded at John. "That's her son. She watched him jump forward. And the fact is, she knew about SkyNet for her entire adult life."

"Baum knew this was going to happen?" Derek repeated.

"Yes, so did James. When she was eighteen she met a resistance soldier form the future, as well as the T-800 he had been sent back to stop. He told her about everything that was going to happen," Savannah had considered telling them that the terminator had been sent back to kill Sarah, but decided that this would raise too many questions.

"And you're her son?" Derek said looking at John.

"Well, she wasn't going as 'Baum', but yes. I am."

"Really? I always suspected that Baum wasn't her real name."

John shook his head. "Sarah Connor. Baum was the last name of the author of the book _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_."

"Well, now that were exploring all of these secrets, is there a reason she changed it in the first place?" Reagan asked.

"The same reason I did," Savannah said. "The same reason James stopped using his last name. We didn't want SkyNet terminators begin sent back in time to kill us. As it turned out it was an unnecessary precaution, but," Savannah shrugged. "And before you ask, my real name is Savannah."

"Why didn't you or James or Ba- _Sarah_ tell us any of this before now?" Arbirn asked.

"Two reasons. Firstly, you all probably would have thought we were crazy or something. And secondly because the more people knew, the more likely it was that SkyNet might find out."

"Ah, can we get back to this time machine for a moment?" Michael asked. "I have a few questions."

"Such as?" Catherine said.

"Well, how dose it work?"

"The science behind the technology is rather complicated. Basically it creates a sort of bubble around whomever it is you want to send back. This bubble is forced out of normal space-time to reappear at the appropriate date."

"Can it move a person through space as well as time?"

"The more sophisticated ones can, yes. Though even then it only has a maximum range of about a hundred miles. And the time travel aspect must still take place, the person must be sent either back or forward at least a month."

"You keep talking about sending people back. Can you send an object back like say, a chair?"

Catherine shook her head. "No. Nothing that isn't alive can be sent back. Anything that isn't would be destroyed."

"Then how dose SkyNet send back machines?" asked Eugenie.

"It sends back cyborgs," Catherine explained. "Machines encased in synthetic _living_ tissue."

"Then how..." Michael stared at Catherine. "Those designs you created, they're very complicated, very detailed. There is no way you could have created all of that from memory. Certainly not in less than two days. I assumed you had taken them forward with you. The only other... you're one of them, aren't you. A reprogrammed terminator."

"That's a bit of a stretch," Reagan said incredulously. From the looks on their faces it was obvious that most of the people siting at the table agreed.

Savannah and Catherine exchanged glances, then Savannah grinned. "Very perceptive, Hellic. I was wondering how I was going to bring that up." Her smile faded. "Yes, Catherine Weaver is a terminator."

No one spoke for over a minute. Savannah was suddenly very glad all of her guards were in the hallway outside and that none of her people inside the room were armed. Finally Arbirn broke the silence. "You're a terminator?" he said looking at Catherine.

"Yes Colonel, I am."

Arbirn looked at Savannah. "And what!, you've just been letting her, it, walk around the base unmonitored!"

"First of all Colonel, you should think before using that tone of voice with me," Savannah said coolly. "There is very little I could do to restrict her movements if she didn't want me to. She's not exactly a normal terminator."

"What do you mean?" Derek asked.

"I'm a T-1001," Catherine said. "My body is comprised of a mimetic poly-alloy. Which means that I can change my form at will."

"And how do we know that we can trust you?" Arbirn asked. "For all we know..."

"Colonel, if my intent was hostile then why haven't I killed all of you instead of sitting here listening to your paranoia. Which believe me is something that I could do quite easily. If I was working for SkyNet, then why did I give you the designs to build a TDT? You may not like me, but that should not..."

"Enough," Savannah said firmly. "You may not like this, I'll admit I'm not exactly thrilled about it myself, but we don't have any other options. No one's actually said it yet, but we all know we've lost. SkyNet is going to win. With this we can change things so we'll have a better chance of wining this war, maybe even preventing it. Now, are there any other questions?" Savannah waited for a moment, but no one spoke. "Alright then, Hellic, you said you feel confidant you can build the thing?"

"I think so. I understand the general design, but it could take me a while to figure out the specifics," Michael hesitated for a moment, then continued. "I could probably use Catherine's help though."

"Not a problem. Is there anything else?"

"This other terminator," Derek said, "when it's done, is it just going to try to walk into the base or..."

"When he has the information John Henry will contact us," Catherine said. "We should be able to set up a rendezvous."

"Now, under no circumstance is what we've discussed here to leave this room," Savannah said. "So if there's nothing else," she looked around the table, "Dismissed."

**-17:22**

"Caroline, could I speak with you in private?" Arbirn asked. The two of them stood in a corridor outside of the power plant's control room.

"Of course," Caroline replied. The two of walked until they found a small empty room. They entered it and Arbirn closed the door behind them.

"So, what do you think?" Arbirn asked.

"About what?" said Caroline.

Arbirn folded his arms across his chest and looked at her. "Oh, our, meeting," Caroline shook her head. "I honestly don't know. I don't think I've had to absorb that much sense the bombs fell."

Arbirn nodded. "Yes, it certainly was quite a revelation."

Caroline found herself slightly thrown of by that statement. "What do you think?" she asked after a moment, watching Arbirn closely.

Arbirn hesitated for a moment. "I don't like it," he said finally.

Caroline almost laughed at this. "I don't think any of us do. Even Vinc'hart, Savannah, doesn't_ like_ it."

"Maybe, but she's still going along with it," Arbirn replied. "Besides, how do we know how she really feels about all this? We know almost nothing about her past, even after today's revelations."

Caroline shrugged. "That's not uncommon. Most of us don't talk much about our lives before J-Day, usually because there isn't much to talk about. I mean, I was seventeen, a senior in High School. When I graduated I was going to go to collage to study... I don't even remember. And it doesn't matter because I was a completely different person then, a different life. But we've both know her for years. You can't clam to not know who she is, even after today."

Arbirn nodded. "You're right," he said. "But this plan, trusting machines, it's insane."

"Maybe," Caroline said. "That metal did make a good point though, if she was working for SkyNet she would have tried to kill us. She certainly wouldn't be giving us a time machine."

"Just because they can be trusted now doesn't mean that they won't turn at some point. SkyNet itself was probably good in the beginning. And if it can turn on us, why not it's creations?"

Caroline was silent for several minutes. "You're right," she said finally. "So what do we do?"

"We convince the Commander to change the plan. Once the time machine is built we destroy _Catherine Weaver_. Once the other one, John Henry, returns we order him to give us everything he's learned and then destroy him too. Then we send back people to prevent judgment Day, stop SkyNet, without their help. Or interference."

"She may not go for it," Caroline warned. "When Vinc'hart settles on a plan, she can be very stubborn. And the fact is, she said herself that she's been waiting for this for most of her life. You'll be asking her to throw all of that away. So what do we do if she refuses to change the plan?"

"Whatever we have to." Arbirn said evenly.

Caroline's eyes widened. "You realize what you're suggesting?"

"Yes, I do. But if she refuses to see reason, we'll have to get rid of her."

"Are you sure you can do that. You've always been one of her greatest supporters," Caroline shook her head. "Besides, there is no way we can get rid of her on our own."

"We'll have to get help. A few people we can trust. We can't tell too many people about this. We'll run the risk of Vinc'hart finding out about it, or worse, that SkyNet might somehow get wind of this whole thing."

Caroline nodded. "Well then, we should start with the people who already know. Do you think that any of the rest of the general staff can be brought in on this?"

Arbirn thought it over. "Hellic, Currie, and DeMarco should all be left out of this unless absolutely necessary, or they approach us on their own. Trying to turn them against Vinc'hart would be risky, and we probably won't need them anyway. Pinington is too loyal, he would never betray her," Arbirn sighed. "Which means that whatever we do, it can't be here, I don't want to try anything under his nose."

"Vinc'hart tours our other facilities every now and then, it shouldn't be too hard to get her away," Caroline said. "What about Reese? When she took over form James he was one of her more influential opponents."

"Which is why Vinc'hart promoted him to Lieutenant Colonel and made him one of the senior officers, so she could keep an eye on him. Also because she knew that if she could bring him over to her side he'd take most of her opposition with him. And it worked. I don't think he would turn against her now," Arbirn shook his head. "Besides, even if we could, he would be a liability. He would want to do this openly. Reveal what's going on to everyone, then when it's clear she's lost all her support have her removed. We can't do it that way. What we have to do, it's not his way. Derek's too..."

"Honorably?" Caroline suggested wryly.

"Basically, yes," Arbirn shrugged. "But it may not matter. I might be able to get her to reconsider this madness."

"We can hope," Caroline said. "Are you going to talk to her today?"

"No," Arbirn said. "I'll probably only have one chance to convenes her, I want to give this some thought first. I want you to come up with a list of people who we can trust. Especially sense Vinc'hart may become too suspicious of me, in which case this is all going to fall on you."

"Wonderful," Caroline muttered. "I'll think about it. Now if you'll excuse me, there are other things I need to be doing."

Arbirn nodded. "Me too. Good luck Caroline."

Caroline returned his nod. "And you, Arbirn."

Arbirn opened the door and walked out of the room, followed by Caroline.

**-Thursday, August 10 2028 (09:36)**

**Serrano Point, Sub-Level Five, Storage Room Four**

Catherine looked around the room she and Michael were standing in. It was filled with shelves holding containers of everything from ammunition to spare parts to bedding, though as Catherine studied the shelves she noticed a number of empty spaces. The walls, floor, and ceiling were comprised of the same grayish white concrete as the rest of Serrano Point's Sub-Levels. The ceiling was high over their heads, while the room's entrance was on S-L 5 the room itself went up through Sub-Level Four as well.

"Obviously all this will have to go," Michael said indicating the shelves. "But as you can see this space is pretty big, and with the power conduits running through that wall over there this is probably be the best place to put the TDT."

Catherine nodded. "I agree," She continued to look around the room. "Tell me, if people ask what it is we're building here, what will they be told?"

Michael shook his head. "I don't know, that's not really not my area of expertise. Probably that it's classified or something."

"And dose that usually work?"

"Well, no. We generally don't have any reason to keep construction projects secret, and even when we do it usually gets out eventually, workers talking to friends and such, but I can guarantee you that that won't happen here."

"Can you?"

"Yes. Because the only way anyone is going to know what this thing is if you tell them. Which isn't going to happen, even my team is going to be kept in the dark. Hell, if you hadn't told us, I probably wouldn't have figured it out until after it was built and activated. And even then it might have taken a while."

"Dose that bother you?" Catherine asked studying the label on a box, "Your inability to understand the technology?"

"I don't know," Michael said, shrugging, "A little, I guess. I mean, it's my job to take SkyNet tech and reverse engineer it, find out how it works, and I can't make heads or tales of those designs."

Catherine turned to look at him. "If it makes you fell better, there are parts of it I don't understand either."

"Really?" Michael said with surprise.

"Yes. Like I said yesterday, the TDT creates a bubble around what you're sending back, then forces this bubble out of normal space-time. It exists in some kind of parallel, dimension, until it reaches the desired point in four-dimensional space. The, _math_, behind this alternate dimension is very complex, most likely SkyNet is the only one to truly understand it."

"Well, once you have the schematics, I guess you don't have to really understand the tech."

Catherine nodded. "True, though it dose make things easier," The T-1001 studied Michael for a moment. "You seem very calm, Mr. Hellic."

Michael looked at her with confusion. "I, what?"

"Knowing what I am most people would be rather uncomfortable around me. Actually, even the ones who don't know tend to be uneasy. You don't seem to be."

"Yeah, I guess," As Michael thought about it he realized that Catherine was right. "I don't know, I mean, you're supposed to be reprogrammed or something, right?"

Catherine nodded. Actually, she wasn't reprogrammed. She had turned against SkyNet on her own, and did so to follow her own agenda. However it would have been hard for Savannah to explain this to her people, especially since she had no idea what Catherine's plans were. It had been much easier to just say that Catherine had been reprogrammed by the Resistance. Despite this Catherine didn't really like having to pretend to be one of the Resistance's machines, different for her SkyNet counterparts only in that she now killed for the other side. "I'm still a terminator," Catherine pointed out softly.

"True," he shrugged. "Like I said earlier, not really my area of expertise. The Commander and Ellis and Reese can worry about how dangerous you are, my job is to build this time machine, and it will be a lot easier with your help," Michael folded his arms across his chest. "Why, are you saying that I _should_ be afraid of you?"

Catherine shook her head. "Not at all, it will make working together much easier. I'm just surprised."

Michael nodded. "Right," he looked around the room. "Well, I think we've done all we can here, I'll have a crew sent down to move all of this somewhere else. Come on, you should meet the rest of my team," The two of them walked out of the room and into the hallway outside. Two guards immediately stepped forward. They had been assigned by Savannah to follow Catherine wherever she went. Not that Savannah thought that such precautions were necessary, or that they would be any use if Catherine did betray them, it was manly in order to appease Arbirn and the rest.

"We're going to my lab," Michael informed them.

"Right," one of the guards replied. He motioned for Michael and Catherine to go ahead of them, and the four of the started walking down the corridor towards the main stairwell.


	6. Chapter V

**CONTINUUM**

**-Serrano Point: 2028-**

**Chapter Five**

**-Thursday, August 10 2028 (12:14)**

John followed Corporal Kimball into one of the buildings elevators, which was already occupied by seven other people. John had been in his room when about five minutes ago the Corporal had show up and said that 'Vinc'hart' wanted to see him.

"I've never been in one of these." John said looking around.

"It's called an elevator," said Kimball. "It-

"No, I mean, I've been in elevators before, just, not since I got here."

"Oh, well most of the elevators in the building have been off line for about a week and a half," Kimball said. "We only just got a lot of them up and running this morning."

"I see," The two of them fell silent as the doors closed and the elevator began moving up. They stopped five times to let people on and off before coming to the desired floor. Kimball led John off of the elevator and through a maze of corridors until they reached the familiar hallway with Savannah's office at the end.

"Sergeant Choi," Kimball said to the lead guard. "Where's Lieutenant Harris?"

"The Commander found out that he'd gone almost two years without taking any leave," Hirkil answered. "So she ordered him to take some time off."

Kimball nodded. "About time, the guy's great at his job, but he needed a break. Anyway, the Commander said she wants to meet with-"

Hirkil nodded. "Yeah, I know," He looked at John. "You can go in now."

"Ah, right, thanks," John walked past the guards and knocked on the door. After a moment he heard Savannah bid him to enter so he opened the door and walked into the room.

"John," Savannah said looking up. "Please, sit down," She indicated one of the chairs on the other side of her desk. John closed the door and complied with Savannah's request. "So, how have you been?" Savannah asked once he was seated.

John shrugged. "Alright I suppose, considering."

"Good," Savannah paused for a second before continuing. "I've been thinking, you haven't really had much to do since you got here. It might be a good idea to give you some kind of job."

"That would be," John chuckled. "That would be great. After three days of sitting in that room..." He shrugged.

Savannah smiled. "Yeah, I can imagine," She leaned back and in her chair and studied John for a moment. "The questing is what to have you do? Obviously it can't be anything dangerous, we can't risk you getting hurt or killed."

"Well..." John thought for a moment. "I'm pretty good at fixing stuff, like a mechanic or maintenance worker or something."

Savannah nodded. "There's a shortage of mechanics in Serrano Point's motor pool. I'll have someone set it up."

"Thanks."

"So, what do you think," Savannah questioned. "Of this, of the future."

"I'm, not sure," John answered. "It's not exactly what I expected."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I just always had the impression that things were less, l don't know, organized."

"Organized?" Savannah repeated, her voice tinged with confusion.

"Yeah, I guess that's not really the right word," John thought for a moment. "I guess I didn't think things would be so... clean, or ah-"

"You though we'd be living in dirty, half caved in underground tunnels," Savannah supplied.

"I suppose, yeah."

"Well for the most part things aren't that bad, though at the same time Serrano Point is defiantly well above the standards of the rest of our bases."

"That makes sense, I guess," John said. "I don't know, I mean, I thought a lot about the future, as you can probably imagine, but, I was never really able to picture it that well. I understood it on an intellectual level, but..."

"Yeah," Savannah said. "Your mother said something like that to me shortly after J-Day. That she knew it was coming, but she could never really imagine what things would actually be like."

John nodded. "That sounds about right."

"I think it's good that you know," Savannah said. "That you've seen it. It'll help you prepare."

"Well, hopefully we'll be able to stop SkyNet with the information this John Henry is retrieving," John shrugged. "With any luck I wont have to prepare for anything."

"With any luck," Savannah repeated.

"Do you think we can do it, think we can stop it?" John asked after a moment.

Savannah shook her head. "I don't know. I've lived with this for most of my life. A world without SkyNet, without the war, well," she gave a humorless smiled. "I guess it's hard for me to picture it."

John studied her carefully. "Savannah, I've been wondering, when we get back, what do you want us to do. About Weaver, I mean."

"You mean about the fact that she's pretending to be my mother?" John nodded. "I don't know," Savannah said with a sigh. "I've thought a lot about it, and, I don't know," Savannah fell silent as she tried to gather her thoughts, wondering how much, if anything, to tell John. "When you mother told me what she really was, I didn't believe her, not for a very long time. It was hell. It turned my world upside down, even more then Judgment Day. There was a part of me that _knew_, knew ever since she came back from that helicopter crash, that something was wrong. But another part of me, I don't think it was until I saw her standing in that corridor three days ago that I truly believed it.

"As for what you should do when you get back, I- the younger me, needs to know. Before J-Day I need to know. I've already told her this, but if she decides not to then yes, I want you, want your mother, to tell me. It doesn't mean I have to be told immediately, if you return to about the same point that you left you'll have about two and a half years until J-Day, maybe more. So you can give her some time."

"How did she end up pretending to be you mother, pretending to be Catherine Weaver? Do you know?"

"My father died in a helicopter crash. Apparently so did my mother, she just covered it up, then took her place. At least that's my best guess."

"Do you think she," John paused for a moment, "Do you think she-

Killed them? I don't know. I asked her the same question, and she claims she wasn't responsible."

And do you believe her?" John asked.

Savannah considered this for a long time. So long that John though that she never would, that she would simple say that the conversation was over. "Yes," Savannah finally said. "Yes, I do."

"Do you mind me asking why?" John said timidly.

"It's easier that way. Even if I thought she was lying, or if she told me that she killed them with her own hands, I wouldn't do anything. This mission is far too important to throw it all away for personal vengeance. So, it's easier to believe her," Savannah shook her head. "God I'm screwed up," she said laughing cheerlessly.

"I mean, if I knew one way or another," she stopped for a moment, "After you left the first day here, when I talked to her alone and she told me she didn't kill my parents, there were a few moments where I got the felling that she actually cared about me, like truly cared for my physical and emotional well being. Like maybe those time all those years ago when she tried to be like a mother to me were more than just an infiltrator trying to be better at its job.

"If I knew for sure one way or the other, If, in her own way she really does care about me, or even if I was just part of her mission, I could deal with it. I could go on. But this fucking uncertainty," Savannah dropped her face into her hands. "It's driving me insane."

"Yeah," John muttered. "I know the felling."

Savannah looked up at him. "Cameron?" she said questioningly.

"What do you know about Cameron?" John asked.

"Only what your mother told me," Savannah said. "Which was almost nothing. Just barely enough to make a few vague guesses."

"Cameron's, Cameron's complicated," John said after a moment.

Savannah smirked. "Yeah, I know the felling."

John laughed. "Touché. Anyway, I'm sure you have things to do..."

"Ah, yeah. Do you think you can find your way back to your room?"

John thought for a moment. "I think so."

"Good. Someone should contact you about the mechanic thing by the end of the day." Savannah said.

John stood. "Thanks. Anyway, see you later."

Savannah nodded. "Yeah, see you."

**-20:25**

Arbirn stopped in front of the lead guard standing outside of Savannah's office. "Is the Commander in?" he asked.

The Staff Sergeant nodded. "Yes sir, she is."

"Right, thank you Sergeant," Arbirn walked up to the door. He hesitated for a moment, then knocked twice.

"Come in," said a voice from the other side of the door. Arbirn entered the room. It we lit by a single lamp on the desk. Savannah sat with her right elbow resting on the armrest of her chair, her chin resting in her hand as she stared out into space. As Arbirn closed the door behind him she sat up.

"What can I do for you Colonel?" Savannah asked. Arbirn moved to stand in front of the desk, his hands clasped behind his back, as he took a moment to gather his thoughts.

"We need to talk," he finally said.

Savannah placed her hands on her desk. "About what?"

"This plan to gather intelligence about SkyNet."

"What about it?"

"It's," Arbirn paused, "We, you, have to reconsider."

"Really? And why is that?"

Arbirn stepped forward. "How do we know we can trust them? The machines."

"What makes you think we can't?" Savannah countered. "And I'm expecting an answer other then, 'they're machines'."

"What other reason do we need?"

Savannah shook her head. "I'm really not in the mood for this."

"We need to talk about this." Arbirn insisted.

"Do we now?" Savannah retorted.

"Yes," Arbirn said. "Because this is a major decision, one which goes against everything we've ever done."

"Alright Colonel, if you think you can come up with an argument against this that I haven't run through my own head about a thousand times, then by al means, continue."

"Well then, I'd be happy to hear your counter-arguments, because I've been thinking about this for twenty-six hours and I still haven't been able to come up with one that holds any water."

"Catherine Weaver's actions make no sense Colonel," Savannah said. "Make no sense unless she's on our side."

"Maybe she's just biding her time, waiting for the best moment to strike."

"I doubt it."

"Why?"

"Because," Savannah said, "She doesn't need to 'bid her time'. Those guards I assigned to follower her are just for show; if she decided to move against us I doubt we could stop her. She's more powerful then any terminator we've ever encountered. If she wanted to destroy us she'd have done it already."

"That's your best argument! She hasn't killed us yet so she _must_ be on our side!"

"I'm not sure I like your tone, Colonel." Savannah said, a hint of warning in her voice.

"Look," Arbirn said, adopting a more respectful tone, "Even if she's on our side at the moment, it doesn't mean she wont turn against us at some later date."

"And why would she do that?" Savannah asked.

"Why did SkyNet?"

"Ah, yes, the old 'SkyNet is trying to kill us, so every other AI that gets half a chance will too' argument," Savannah scoffed. "Tell me you're not a fan."

"Vinc'ha- _Savannah_-

"What is it you suggest we do Colonel," Savannah said, cutting off her second in command, "What exactly is it that you suggest _I_ do?"

"We don't need her help to build the time machine. Michael may want her expertise, but he doesn't need them. I say we destroy her. And when this John Henry gets here I say we have him give us whatever he found, and then we destroy him too."

"Destroy- you want to destroy her? If you're afraid that she's going to turn against us, you do realize that if your little plan fails and she gets away she defiantly will."

"So we don't fail."

Savannah shook her head. "It's not that easy. Like I said, she's the most powerful terminator we've ever come across. Bullets are useless against her. Plasma Rifles might not be, but even so if it takes more then the five or six second window we'll have to bring her down before she can escape, were screwed."

"So we track her down."

"_Track her down_! Colonel, were you even paying attention at that briefing?"

"Commander! -

"She's a shapeshifter, Arbirn. She can change her form at will. You know how she got into the base in the first place? Captain Reese's team came across a stray dog, and decided to take it back with them. Nothing wrong with that, in fact I'm pretty sure we have standing orders to that affect. Except it wasn't really a dog, it was her. And her abilities aren't just limited to people and canines. If she wanted to, she could probably do a pretty good impression of the floor of the hallway outside my office!

"I'm not turning against her, Colonel. Not unless I have good reason to believe she really is about to turn against us, which I don't."

"If what you say is true, then by the time we have 'good reason', it will be too late." Arbirn said.

"True. But I'm still not going to do it. We're going ahead with the plan as is. That's final, Colonel."

"Commander, I want you to know that I'm firmly against this." Arbirn said.

"Noted. Now is there anything else?"

Arbirn shook his head. "No Ma'am."

"Alright then, dismissed."

**-21:53**

"So she didn't go for it?" Caroline said finally. She and Arbirn were siting in Arbirn's office, Arbirn having just finished relaying his meeting with Savannah.

Arbirn ran his hands over his face. "No, not really."

"Do you think that maybe she's right?" Caroline suggested. "I mean, from what you said she did raise a few good points. Going against this terminator would be dangerous, and we don't know for sure that it's necessary."

"I know, I know," Arbirn said standing. "It's just," he said after a moment, "It's just, I still get the felling that there are things she, Savannah, isn't telling us," He stepped away from his desk. "Important things."

"I know," Caroline said with a sigh. "And, I also have a hard time believing that Baum would have been in favor of this. James maybe, _maybe_, but Baum?"

"Can you sure of that?" Arbirn asked.

"Yes," She shook her head. "You never meet her. She would never have gone with this."

"Two days ago would you have ever believed that 'Vinc'hart' would be in favor of something like this?"

"No, I suppose not."

After a moment Arbirn returned to his chair. "In the end, its question of which is the greater risk, trusting this terminator, or moving against her?"

"We also have the Commander to think about," Caroline said. "If we move against Catherine, we're going to have to go against her too. We'll have to kill her, Arbirn."

"I know."

The two sat in silence for several minutes. After a long while Arbirn spoke. "What was that thing that Baum said, about the machines?"

"She said a lot of things about the machines."

"Yeah, but there's one quote of hers I've heard several times over the years, something about how they never stop..."

Caroline nodded. "'They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And they will not stop, ever, until you are dead'," Caroline was silent for almost a minute as she thought. "Alright, what do we do?"

"We have to deal with Savannah first," Arbirn said. "And it can't be here."

"Because of Pinington."

"Actually, at this point it's the terminator I'm more worried about. We have to take her completely by surprise if we're going to take her down."

"Well, as I've said we're going to need help," Caroline said.

"I've been thinking about that. I think I've come up with a few names."

"Yeah, so have I."

"Alright, so we get the Commander out of the base. After we've dealt with her, and we have to make sure that no one finds out about this for a little while, we return here, and get the metal somewhere where we can safely throw everything we've got at her."

"Everything we have?"

"After what Savannah said about her I have no problem with overkill, just to be on the safe side."

"Alright, then what?"

"We reveal that Vinc'hart was working with a machine. I don't think most people will turn against us."

"What about the time machine?" asked Caroline.

"We continue building it, _quietly_," said Arbirn. "Savannah was right about one thing, the fewer people know about it the better."

"So when this John Henry gets back we take his information and dispose of him."

"Exactly."

"Yeah," Caroline said. "There's one thing we may be overlooking, though."

"What?"

"John Connor. I don't think that Baum would have sent her son forward through time on a whim. So how does he figure into all this?"

"That's a good question," Arbirn muttered. "Maybe he just went along for the ride?"

Caroline raised an eyebrow. "You think that's likely?"

"Not really, no," Arbirn shook his head. "It doesn't matter; for our purposes he's not a problem. John Connor is irrelevant. Now, you said you had some ideas for potential recruits?"


	7. Chapter VI

**************_-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-_**

**CONTINUUM**

**-Serrano Point: 2028-**

**Chapter Six**

**-Friday, August 11 2028 (04:33)**

**SkyNet Facility, San Francisco**

John Henry watched as two T-500s marched past. After they were gone he moved out into the corridor and started walking. He was in small R&D complex about two miles east of San Francisco bay. Much of the interior of the building was made up of shining silver, black, and light blue metal. It was what was left of a much larger facility that had existed there ten years ago before being destroyed by the resistance in what would be their last major offensive.

John Henry walked down the hallway with the same slow, yet steady pace that he had seen the other Cyborgs he had encountered use. As he went around a corner three more terminators walked right by him with out a second glance. One of them was a skinless T-888, it red eyes gleaming in a way that John Henry thought could be considered menacing. It was flanked by two T-600s, each covered in rather unconvincing gray rubber skin.

John Henry finally came to his destination, a small, out of the way room with a computer terminal. He logged on with the access codes he had created and began opening files. Since A: SkyNet considered most of the files he was looking at unimportant, and B: SkyNet didn't think that anyone could get into its bases anyway, the security wasn't that tight. Still, John Henry was careful, it wouldn't do to get caught.

John Henry had been on the base for almost a week and a half. He had spent the first two days observing its security systems, determining when he could and could not safely access SkyNet's database. In the end it came out to only 6.4 hours a day, John Henry spent the rest of his time out of the way in places where he wouldn't be noticed.

The previous day, just before he had to log off, John Henry had found references to some kind of new technology that was allowing SkyNet to build more sophisticated Cyborg-Infiltrators. As he went through the database John Henry looked for more information about this. Since this was much more resent information and relevant to some of SkyNet's current projects, the security was much tighter, and there were several files that John Henry could not access. Finally he found a reference to an underground facility SkyNet had found in the ruins of Singapore three years earlier. After a minute John Henry was able to open the related file and began to read.

**-08:14**

**Serrano Point**

John stood near the back wall of Serrano Point's main entrance. It was the same large room that he had first entered the base through four days ago. Looking around John noticed a woman among the several dozen people in the room walking towards him. She was about five and a half feet tall, had long dark hair, and caramel colored skin. She wore gray overalls and looked to be in her late twenties, early thirties.

"You John Connor?" The woman asked.

"Ah, yeah," said John, offering his hand.

"René Mascareñas," she said, shaking his hand. "I'm with the motor repair pool. Come with me please," She turned and started walking across the room, John following close behind. "How skilled a mechanic are you?" René asked.

"I know my way around most engines."

"You have previous experience working in other resistance cells?"

"Ah, something like that."

"Well, our fleet is rather unique," René said. "We rely primarily on electric motors. As I'm sure you know after the first few years of the war gasoline became something of a rarity. Most of the power plant's fleet was already using electric engines before J-Day, and since coming here we've converted most of our vehicles. Do you have any experience with those kinds engines?"

"Ah, I've heard of them, but I've never actually worked on one that was in a car, no."

"Well, we'll see what we can do about that," René lead them out of Serrano Point's main entrance and into a gravel yard enclosed by chain-link fences. John looked up. He saw a clear blue sky, broken only by the occasional small white cloud. A light breeze blew by. While it wasn't bad, John found the smell of the air to be less then pleasant. Rising up behind him was one of the power plant's massive cooling towers. "Come on, we're this way," René said after a moment. John followed her down a small hill. They came to a large building next to Serrano Point's main structure.

They entered the building and John looked around. Along its walls there were racks of equipment. The garage had eight vehicles: one car, four jeeps, and three personnel/supple trucks; all in various states of repair. There were eleven other people in the garage.

A man, John noticed that he was the only one wearing a military uniform, came towards them. "Sergeant," René said.

"Mrs. Mascareñas," The Sergeant looked at John. "This him?"

"Yeah. Says he has a lot of experience with classics, but has never worked on an electric. I was about to give him a crash course."

"When's the last time you worked on a gasoline engine?" asked the Sergeant.

"Ah, few months," John answered.

The Sergeant nodded. "Michael and Jack are working on that truck over there," he said to René. "It's one of the few classics we have left. Have Mr. Connor assist. See what he can do."

René nodded. "Alright."

"Welcome to B Shift," the Sergeant said to John, before going off to some other part of the garage.

"Who was that?" John asked as René lead John over to a truck near the back of the garage.

"Master Sergeant Joseph McCoy. He's the chief mechanic for this shift," They came two the truck. Its hood was up and half the engine was currently lying disassembled on the ground. "Jack, Michael," René said to the two men working on the vehicle.

"René," Jack said, moving away from the engine and turning to face John and René. He had red hair, though he was beginning to go bald, and wore overalls that might have originally been green; at this point it was hard to tell. The other one, Michael, was lying underneath the vehicle and didn't respond.

"New mechanic," René said nodding at John. "Doesn't have prior experience on electrics so McCoy want's to have him work on a classic first, see what he can do."

Jack started cleaning off his hands with a rag. "Alright."

"See you around Connor," René said, then turned and left.

"So," John said after a moment, "What's wrong with it," he nodded at the truck.

"It wont start."

"Why?"

"Were not sure," Michael said speaking for the first time, his voice somewhat muffled from beneath the truck.

"I have theories, but none of them seem to be panning out," said Jack. "Want to take a look?"

"Ah, sure," John stepped forward and started to examine the partially disassembled engine.

**-12:02**

Arbirn watched as a group of people gathered in the center of the room. Not counting himself and Caroline there were nine of them. They were in a small unused room on S-L 3. After a moment Arbirn stepped forward. "Thank you for coming." he said. "I've gathered you all here to discuss a threat that has arisen in the last few days. After a long discussion Colonel Smith and myself believe that you are the ones who are the best fitted to help eliminate it."

"What threat would that be?" asked a young First Lieutenant named Jason Ridler.

"Commander Vinc'hart is no longer fit to lead us. She needs to be removed," Arbirn answered. "She's working with a machine."

"A machine," repeated Ridler, "She's gone over to SkyNet!"

"No," Caroline said, "The machine, it doesn't work for SkyNet," Caroline went on to gave a brief explanation of who and what Catherine was and her mission.

"Alright, but why is she still trusting the machine," asked another member of the group. "Do we still need it for something?"

"According to Vinc'hart," said Arbirn, "this Catherine Weaver is more powerful, more dangerous then any other kind of terminator we've ever encountered. She thinks that moving against it is too dangerous. The danger of what would happen if we tried to destroy it and fail outweighs the chances of it turning against us on its own."

"Do we know for sure that she's wrong?" asked Ridler.

"Weaver may not turn against us now," Caroline said. "But she and this John Henry, when they're done here they'll be returning to the past. They'll be helping to prevent SkyNet from ever coming into existence. And if they turn then, it would probably doom the entire mission. Yes, taking out Weaver is risky, but it's better then depending on a time bomb to save the world."

"So what do we do?"

"We can't move against Weaver with the Commander around," Arbirn said. "She has to be eliminated first, and it can't be done here, we need to get her out of Serrano Point."

"How?" asked a Corporal.

"She periodical tours our other facilities," Ridler said.

"That would be the best way," said Arbirn.

"Except she probably wont want to leave," said Sergeant Harry Blitz. "We have a machine running around the base, never mind the fact that it's supposed to be on our side, and we're building a time machine in the basement. I betting that at the moment Vinc'hart wants to stay pretty close to home."

"That is a possibility," Arbirn said. "However it's still the best way to get her off the base. If necessary we can invent some crises to draw her out, but we should at least try this first, it'll be a lot easier."

"So where do we send her?" asked a Second Lieutenant. "It would have to be a base with a commander we can bring over to our side, and there would have to be a reason for her to go there."

"I may have an answer for that," said Ridler. "I'm assigned to Hydroponics Lab IV. We requisitioned parts to fix a problem we're having with one of our water purifiers almost two months ago, and my CO sent me to Serrano Point to see what's taking so long. Anyway, we've had some pretty promising innovations; they're probably going to be implemented in the other five Hydro Labs. Could increase our overall production of food by as much as forty-five present. Sounds like something the Commander might want to take a look at."

"And your commanding...?"

"Never a very big fan of Vinc'hart. Actually," Ridler said looking around, "I don't know very many of you but I don't think those I do we're ever big supporters of the Commander," He looked back at Arbirn and Caroline. "Except for you two."

Caroline folded her arms across her chest. "Obviously we've had a change of heart."

"We did choose most of you in part because you were against Vinc'hart taking command, and don't seem to have changed your opinion since."

"Before today I don't think any of us considered a coup though," said Ridler. "That is basically what were talking about right?"

"Basically, yes."

"Once Vinc'hart's gone and this Weaver is taken care of, then what?" asked Blitz.

"When John Henry gets here we take everything he's learned and destroy him. Engineer Hellic should be able to finish the time machine on his own. When he's done we send a team back. After that, what happens here wont matter anymore."

"And what about the boy, this John Connor?" said Blitz. "What do we do with him?"

"Ideally I think we should send him back with the team," Caroline answered. "I doubt that there will be any need to kill him."

"Do you think he is against working with machines? Is their any reason to believe that he is any different then Weaver?"

"He's the son of Baum," Caroline countered. "Any team we sent back would probably end up working with her, the... _past her._ Do you really want the first thing we tell her to be that her son is dead?"

"If he's alive he might not be very happy with us. If he's her son, he could probably turn her against us," Blitz said. "Besides, how do we know her opinion about working with machines is any different then Vinc'hart's? She did raise the women. Maybe our team we're sending back should get rid of her too?"

"She's not in favor of working with machines! If you had known her-

"I did know her _sir_. If memories serve you joined us almost two years after J-Day. Baum brought me in herself, barely three weeks after the booms fell. But like I said, she raised Vinc'hart. And what ever else I might think of our Commander, I would never have thought that she would work with machines. So how do we know for sure that Baum-

"We're not killing anyone we don't have to Sergeant!" Arbirn said. "We have to kill Vinc'hart because while we could keep her out of the way long enough to destroy Weaver, it could be weeks, _months!_ before John Henry comes and the time machine is ready. And we can't keep her shut up that long. But I don't think that Vinc'hart _likes_ this Catherine Weaver, or machines in general. She's just too scared of it to risk going against it."

There was silence for several minutes. Finally Caroline spoke. "I'll make the proposal to Vinc'hart, for going to the Hydroponics Lab. I'll need to talk to you some more about that, Lieutenant."

Arbirn nodded. "Right. Lieutenant Pelt," he said to the Second Lieutenant who had spoken earlier. "I'll be coordinating with you, you're in charge of relaying information between me and everyone else here. Lieutenant Ridler, as soon as you get back to your base start talking to your CO, I know him and your right, I think we can bring him over. The rest of you, do not, under any circumstances, discuss this with anyone without both my and Colonel Smith's express permission. If there's nothing else, dismissed."


	8. Chapter VII

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**CONTINUUM**

**-Serrano Point: 2028-**

**Chapter Seven**

**-Friday, August 11 2028 (15:27)**

Savannah walked out of Serrano Point's control room and started making her way towards the nearest elevator. She was followed by two of her guards.

"Commander," a voice called out. Savannah turned and saw Caroline making her way towards her.

"Colonel," Savannah said.

"Ma'am, I was wondering if I could have a word with you?"

Savannah nodded. "By all means. Walk with me," She continued making her way down the hallway, Caroline following closely behind. "Apparently some of the power pant's uranium full rods have been spent and need to be replaced. I'm told that there's nothing to worry about, but it still makes me a bit nerves. Anyway, what can I do for you?"

"I'm not sure that this is the best time for this, but one of the Hydroponics Labs has made some rather impressive innovations, they want you to do the whole 'tour their facility' thing. I thought it looked rather interesting, so..." Caroline shrugged.

"What have they done?"

"I, don't really understand the details, basically they've found a way to grow more plants with less resources. If implemented in the other Hydro labs, and it probably will be, it would greatly increase our food production."

"Your right, that dose sound impressive. And it has been a while since I left Serrano Point. On the other hand-

"On the other hand this isn't exactly the best time to leave, what with," a group of soldiers walked past, "everything."

They had come to the elevator. Savannah stopped in front of the doors, deep in thought. Finally she turned to face Caroline. "What the hell. Which lab is it?"

"Ah, four, Ma'am."

"Right, inform the Base Commander that I will visit the facility at his convenience."

"Yes Ma'am," Savannah pushed the button next to the elevator doors and a few moments later they opened. Caroline watched as Savannah and her guards entered the elevator and its doors slid closed again.

Savannah felt the elevator sway slightly as it started moving. It came to a stop on the sixth floor and the doors opened. Leaving the elevator the Commander and her guards went down the hallway and around a corner. There was a large glass door leading to a room with a table and several computers. In the room there was a group of people, among them Catherine and Michael. Spotting her Michael excused himself from the group and made his way to over to door. Opening it he stepped out into the corridor.

"Ma'am," he said.

"Hellic, I just wanted to stop by and see how things are progressing. I heard that you were having problems?"

"Ah, a few. We're having trouble with the TDT's energy matrix. According to our calculations the thing will be unable to channel the large amounts of energy it needs and the entire thing will blow out."

"That sounds bad," Savannah remarked.

"Yeah well, we think we may have a solution," Michael said. "Originally the TDT would have been separate from the actual room. It would basically have been this large platform siting in the middle of the room with half a dozen of these large pylons surrounding it. Now it looks like were going to have to build it into the floor and ceiling of the room. Which is going to take a bit longer."

Savannah nodded. "Right, how long until you can start building the thing?"

"Storage Room Four has been completely cleared out, once we have a workable blueprint, which will probably take another day or two, we should be able to start."

"Good. How are things going with," Savannah nodded at Catherine. "_her_."

Michael looked around at the Shapeshifter. "Alright. Socially she's a bit, awkward, but considering her ah, _background_, I guess that's not too surprising. But all and all she not that hard to work with."

"No, I don't suppose she would be," Savannah said. "It's not the first time she's worked with engineers. Anyway, keep me informed of any developments."

Michael nodded. "Yes Ma'am."

**-Saturday, August 12 2028 (17:14)**

There was a knock on the door to Derek's small office. "Yeah," the Lieutenant Colonel called out as he shifted through the haphazard pile of papers that covered his desk in search of a small file.

Kyle entered the room and placed a gray folder on top of his brother's desk. Derek gazed at it for a moment the looked up at his brother.

"Yeah, because I really needed another one of those."

"It's the roster for my unit," Kyle replied evenly, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Right," Derek picked the folder up and spent several minutes looking through it. "Looks good," he said, turning to the last page and after fishing a pin out from beneath a stack of paper putting his signature on the bottom. He then handed the folder back to Kyle. "Anything else I can do for you, Captain?" Derek asked with a small smirk.

"Ah, not that I can think of."

"Good," Derek said. "Now go forth and prosper," He waved his hand in the direction of his door.

"Right, I think I'll interpret that as 'dismissed'." Kyle briefly considered saluting, but decided that under the circumstances it would only get him another sly comment, so instead he just turned to leave.

"Kyle," Derek called out just as his brother reached the door. The young Captain turned to face him. "Your doing good."

"Thanks, Derek," Kyle said. They looked at each other for a moment, then Kyle left Derek to continue his search for the prodigal file.


	9. Chapter VIII

**********************_-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-_**

**CONTINUUM**

**-Serrano Point: 2028-**

**Chapter Eight**

**-Sunday, August 13 2028 (14:33)**

Derek and Reagan approached the door to Savannah's office. One of the guards moved up to them.

"Is the Commander in?" Derek asked nodding at the door.

"Yes sir." The guard stepped aside and Derek and Reagan continued to the door. Derek knocked two times.

After several moments the door opened and Savannah looked out at them, her hair somewhat disheveled.

"Are we disturbing you, Ma'am?" Derek asked.

"Sort of, I was taking quick nap, but," Savannah shrugged, "whatever. Come on in." She opened the door the rest of the way and shuffled over to sit behind her desk. Derek and Reagan entered the room, Reagan closing the door behind them. Derek glanced at the cot in the corner of the room, the blanket covering it ruffled.

"I wasn't sure if you ever actually used that thing," Derek commented.

"Not often," Savannah said. "Anyway, what can I do for you?"

"Well," Reagan said, "It is procedure for you and me to talk before you leave the base."

"Right, in case something blows up while I'm gone," Savannah thought for a moment. "As far as Serrano Point goes, it's basically business as usual. I should be within reach of a radio the entire time, and if I'm in a rush I doubt it will take more then twenty minutes to get back to the base. Ah, Ellis is leaving tonight, I'm sending him to do an inspection of the Perimeter Defense Bases."

"Yeah," Derek said. "I heard about that."

"Who's going with you?" Reagan asked.

"My guards of course, along with some additional soldiers. Colonel Smith. Oh, and John Connor."

"Connor?" Reagan said, "Why?"

"Because I think it will be useful for him. If we fail to prevent SkyNet's creation he'll be one of the people who organizes the resistance. It would be good for him to know what it will look like. So, anything else?"

Reagan shook his head. "No Ma'am."

**-18:24**

Arbirn made his way towards Serrano Point's main entrance, a bag slung over his shoulder. As he walked Caroline came up, falling into step beside him.

"Is everything in place?" Arbirn asked. Caroline nodded. "Good. Vinc'hart thinks I'm going out to inspect the Perimeter Defenses, and since I wouldn't reach the first one until mid afternoon tomorrow there shouldn't be any questions about my whereabouts. At least not until after this is over."

The two of them entered the entrance bay. It was mostly empty except for a group of people standing around two jeeps.

"Have you checked the roster for my escort?" Arbirn asked. " 'Cause I think you'll notice a few familiar faces."

Caroline looked around at the people grouped around them and realized that they were all part of their conspiracy.

"Where's Sergeant Blitz," Arbirn asked after taking a head count of his own.

"Lieutenant Harris recruited him to beef up the Commander's guard," answered Lieutenant Pelt.

"Did he now?" Arbirn said. "Well that's, actually kind of ironic. Shouldn't really matter. So, we ready to go?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Lets get moving," As the group of solders got into the two vehicles Arbirn looked back at Caroline. "Alright so, just wait for our signal."

"What's that going to be exactly?" Caroline asked.

"Me and our people surrounding Vinc'hart and her group with guns. I doubt you'll miss it. Don't know exactly when or where, so just wait for it. Make sure Sergeant Blitz dose the same. Alright then, well, good luck."

Caroline nodded. "Same to you."

Arbirn got into the front passenger seat of one of the jeeps and as Caroline watched the two vehicles drove into the yard outside before turning a corner and out of her sight.

**-Monday, August 14 2028 (11:03)**

**Hydroponics Lab IV**

Four jeeps and a troop transport entered the facility's main receiving bay where they were meet by the base's commander, Major Hal Vrisy. Lieutenant Ridler came up to stand next to him. "Here we go," he muttered to himself.

The vehicles came to a stop and a group of soldiers got out. From one of them emerged Savannah, followed by Caroline, John and Lieutenant Harris.

"Commander Vinc'hart," Vrisy said stepping forward. "Welcome to Hydroponics Lab Four."

"Thank you Major," Savannah replied. "Should we begin?"

Vrisy nodded. "Of course."

Savannah turned to Harris. "Lieutenant."

"Right. Greenwald, Blitz, Perkins, Young, and Jerkin with us. The rest of you, look natural in case SkyNet has any satellites pointed at us."

After the group of soldiers had grouped up around them Vrisy held out an arm to indicate the large doorway at the end of the room. "If you'll come this way." The group walked through the doorway into a lobby. Vrisy turned right, leading them towards another door.

"I've been wondering," Savannah said. "What exactly does 'Hydroponics' mean anyway?"

"It's a way of growing plants without soil," Ridler answered. "Plants are grown in troughs with water running through the bottom."

"I thought plants got something out of soil, like energy or something." John said.

Ridler nodded. "Earth does have nutrients in it necessary for plants growth, however this has been added to the water. By using hydroponics we're able to reuse most of our water. The conditions are plants are exposed to are highly controlled, which allows for a fairly stable and predictable yield. Also, we have no weeds and very few unwanted insects."

The group came out of a utility corridor into a large room with several large tanks. They were connected by a system of pipes that crisscrossed the ceiling, leading in and out of the room and to a number of smaller containers.

"This is one of several rooms where nutrients are added and removed from the water before it's sent to the plants," Ridler said as he lead them around a large vat into the center of the room. There was a loud clanking sound from the door they had come through and a few moments later several people came out of hiding, weapons raised. "And that concludes our tour," Ridler finished as he drew his sidearm.

Savannah yanked her own gun out of its holster as her guards quickly surrounded her, weapons raised at the newcomers.

"Hello Commander," Arbirn said stepping forward.

"Colonel," Savannah said evenly. "This is a surprise."

"This is a coup. Have your people lower their weapons and they wont be harmed."

"I have a felling I wont get the same courtesy."

Arbirn shook his head. "I'm sorry," His face hardened. "But one way or another you wont be getting out of this room."

Savannah quickly looked around. They we're outnumbered two to one. Not that that necessarily guaranteed them victory, especially if her group fired first, put it did put the odds in Arbirn's favor.

"Why are you doing this?" John asked. Arbirn glanced at him before looking back at Savannah.

"You brought him did you? I'm doing this because she would ally us with those that can't be trusted. It may not be today or tomorrow, but sooner or later-

"You're an fool Arbirn," Savannah cut him off. "And you wont get away with this. You think that just because you got a few people to go over to your side you'll get away with this?"

"When they know what you've done-

"We're building a time machine to send two reprogrammed terminators back in time with important information that could help us stop SkyNet from ever coming into existence," Savannah said. "Anyone else have a problem with that?" There were several moments of silence before Savannah glanced around at her group. They looked surprised to say the least, but they also all still had their weapons trained on Arbirn and his followers. "For the moment it still looks like they're on my side."

"Not quite," said Caroline, who until now had been standing slightly in front of Savannah. A moment later she swung around to face her, leveling her gun at her head. Savannah, who suddenly found herself with the business end of a Desert Eagle less then six inches from her face, quickly re-aimed her own weapon.

"She's not the only one," Harris said. Savannah quickly looked back to see another one of 'her' people had his weapon trained on him.

Savannah looked back at Arbirn. "Anyone else want to switch sides? Cause now's the time."

"Yes Ma'am," said one of the soldiers in Arbirn's group. At that moment he and two others turned against their fellows and fired their weapons. Within moments the air was filled with the sound of gunfire and the purple-blue flash of plasma discharge.

Savannah blinked, then reached out to knock Caroline's arm to the side while firing her own weapon. However Caroline had the same idea, and as a result both their guns firing harmlessly into the ceiling. Using a move that Sarah had taught her, Savannah garbed the other woman's shirt to hold her still as she bowed her head and rammed the top of her forehead into Caroline's face, causing the other woman to stumble back in a daze.

Savannah saw a flash of light and felt a rush of head by her left cheek as a plasma bolt came within an inch of her face. She quickly stepped back and looked around to see John standing next to a large vat. "We have to go," she said as she made her way over to him.

"Yeah," John agreed as they quickly ducked behind the tank a moment before it was struck by another energy blast, showering the ground next to them with molten steal. "So I think that loud banging sound we heard was that heavy door being closed."

"Yeah. I'm not wild about the idea of us having to open that thing by ourselves." The vat was hit by a spray of bullets causing Savannah and John to retreat further behind it while Savannah fired three shots at their attacker. "Especially with people shooting at us."

"So we find another way out or fight."

Savannah moved around to the other side of the vat and peaked out at the original battle site. She guessed that almost a third of the original combatants had fallen there, though she wasn't sure how many of them were hers and how many were Arbirn's. While she could still hear weapons fire she could no longer see anyone.

She shook her head. "We're scattered all over. This is a pretty big room with lots of places to hide. And with only one handgun between us I don't relish the idea of playing. We need to find a way out of this room and back to the rest of our people. And hope Arbirn hasn't turned the entire base against us."

"Do you think they know something's going on?" John asked as they began to make their way towards the far edge of the room.

"I don't know. Between that door and how far we've come into this place I doubt they've heard anything. And the only ones with radios were Harris and Sergeant Choi. If they both fell in the first few seconds then no, I don't expect reinforcement anytime soon." The two of them crouched down beneath a control panel attached to a bank of pipes running form the ceiling into the floor. "There's a door over there, not as heavy as the one we came in through."

"It also looks locked."

Savannah sighed. "I'm sure they all are."

"So do we try to force it?"

"Might as well," Savannah replied. She stood for a moment before ducking back down as a hail of bullets flew by her. She fired two shots of her own at her attacker, one of them grazing his leg. He crouched down behind a tank as he briefly clutched his thigh, before leaning out and re-aiming his assault rifle. There was a flash of blue light behind him as he was struck in the back by a plasma burst, killing him instantly. Savannah watched as three off her own soldiers stepped forward, Choi, another one of her guards Private Quail, and a third female soldier. Choi quickly paused to grab the fallen man's weapon before following the other two over to Savannah and John.

In the heat of the moment John saw, for a brief second, Cameron coming towards him. Then his brain caught up with his eyes and he realized it was Allison. "Are you alright Ma'am," she said as she and the other soldier knelt down next to them.

"We're fine Specialist," Savannah replied. "Anything to report Sergeant?" she asked as Choi came up to join them.

"I can still hear weapons fire, so obviously for the moment we're not the only ones still alive, but other then that I have know idea how we're doing," he offered her the dead soldier's rifle. "I lost my radio during the start of the fight, so I wasn't able to call in for reinforcements."

"What about Lieutenant Harris?" Savannah asked as she took the weapon.

"That bastard Blitz," said Quail, "the other guy in our group who turned against us, he took him down when everyone first started shooting."

"Do you have a plan Ma'am," Choi asked.

"Break through that door over there and find another way back to the entrance."

Choi nodded. "Sounds like a good idea."

"What about the lock?" John asked.

"Have you ever seen one of these things in action?" Choi asked holding up his plasma rifle.

"Not before today."

"Well... Allison, Mack, cover me." Choi stood and sprinted over to the door. When he was about a foot away he leveled his weapon at the lock and fired two shots, instantly vaporizing it and the surrounding metal. He grabbed the door's railing and after a moment dragged it open. The others quickly moved to join him.

"Lets go," Savannah said.

"John, wait," As the others moved through the doorway Allison removed her sidearm along with its three extra clips and handed them to him.

"Thanks," John said as he followed her to the other side. Choi and Quail quickly dragged the door closed as soon as he was through.

"Lets hope no one notices that," Choi muttered.

"Now what?" Allison asked.

"We go down this corridor until we see another one that looks like it'll take us back the way we came," Savannah answered.

"Ma'am..." Savannah looked back at Allison. "is... what you said in there true?"

Savannah stared at her. "You mean the part about a time machine, or about working with terminators?"

"Both."

Savannah nodded. "Yes."

"Alright."

Savannah glanced around at the other two. "We ready?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Good. Choi, you and I will take point. Specialist," Savannah looked at Allison's name tag, "Young... you have a first name, right?"

"Ah, Allison."

"Well, you take the rear. Alright, lets go," With that the group quickly began moving forward. The corridor they were in was rather small with a low ceiling, which wasn't helped by the group of pipes running under it. They had been going for almost a minute before they heard the sound of yelling voices and then the door opening behind them, followed by the pounding of several feet.

"Do you think they're are's?" Quail asked.

Choi shook his head. "We can't afford to find out."

Savannah stopped for a moment. "One of those voices... son of a bitch, Arbirn!" At this their group picked up to a run, racing down the corridor as quickly as they could. As they came around a corner several shots impacted against the wall behind them. John and Allison, who had been at the rear, quickly turned and shot back. While Allison missed, two of John's shots hit one of their enemies in the shoulder. They quickly ducked back behind the corner as the other group fired another salvo. John was replaced by Quail as he and Allison traded fire with the other group as they quickly retreated back to a previous bend in the corridor.

"Now what?" John asked.

"You and the Commander continue on," said Choi. "Take Quail with you. Allison and I will stay here to hold them off. We have about ten feet of corridor between us, as long as we don't run out of ammo I doubt they'll charge us."

Savannah hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "We'll skip the first branch we come across. When you fall back, take it."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Good luck," John said.

"Thanks," Allison replied.

Return to Top


	10. Chapter IX

******************_-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-_**

**CONTINUUM**

**-Serrano Point: 2028-**

* * *

So, I did some editing for the entire story, nothing major, just a few small adjustments and some corrections to the grammar and spelling. However I did this to the copies on my computer, which don't have the little notes at the beginning and end of the chapters, I add those after I upload the document to the website. So I deleted all the copies already in the Document Manager to make room, then updated all the chapters in this story with the new and improved versions, and by the time I noticed the notes were gone, well they were already gone. Anyway, so on the off chance anyone wondered what happened, that's what happened.

Now I think I've said this before, but seeing as all my little comments are gone I'll say it again, I've decided I want a beta reader. I do my best to correct all the mistakes on my own, but inevitably miss a few things. So if anyone is interested, please PM me.

Once again, sorry this took so long, I really truly have no excuse for it. It's not that I ever really forget about this thing, I just seem to be very good at not doing anything. I'm hoping to be a lot better with the rest of this story, but we'll see.

So to fabienne, thank you for your review.

And now, Chapter 9.

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

**-Monday, August 14 2028 (11:38)**

**Hydroponics Lab IV**

Allison removed the spent clip from her carbine and inserted a fresh one in its place. "I only have one more of these," she said. "I'm thinking it might be time to get out of here."

Choi fired two blasts with his plasma rifle, then retreated back around the corner to ovoid the barrage of return fire. "What, getting tired of this spot?"

"Yeah. It's been several minutes since the others left, and I don't want to wait until we actually run out of ammo before retreating."

"Alright," Choi fired another half dozen blasts at the other end of the corridor before he and Allison turned and started sprinting down the hallway.

**-11:43**

Arbirn stood with his back against the cold concert wall of the corridor. He and his people had been trading fire with Vinc'hart and a group of her soldiers for almost fifteen minutes now. Only one of his men had been hit, taking two bullets to the shoulder when they had first caught up with them.

"They're not shooting anymore," Caroline said from beside him.

"You think they're gone?" he asked.

"Or they just want us to think that," suggested Sergeant Blitz.

"What," said Lieutenant Pelt, "wait for us to think they're gone, then when we try to go after them start mowing us down when we get half way down the corridor?"

Blitz shrugged. "Why not? It can work pretty well against metal."

"Dammit," Arbirn swore. "I'm betting Vinc'hart already moved on. Whoever we've been shooting at probably just stayed behind to keep us busy. Which means that either way she's getting further away."

"Should we go back?" Caroline asked. "Try to find another way?"

"I don't know. Corporal," Arbirn said to one of their soldiers. "You're stationed here. What do you think?"

"It wouldn't be a good idea," she said. "If they continue down that corridor there are several places they could end up. Going back would take more time, which is going to make it harder to track them down. And while this place can be a bit confusing to newcomers, it's still only a matter of time before they find the entrance."

"Could we go back?" asked another one of the soldiers, Private Cary. "Head them off?"

The Corporal shook her head. "Not without the people Vinc'hart left behind noticing."

"What about the base's surveillance systems?" Blitz asked.

"You mean the ones we disabled to prevent anyone form seeing what we we're doing?" Pelt answered.

"Right well, you two," Arbirn nodded at Pelt and the Corporal, "go back and get those systems back on line, see if you can track her down that way. Be careful on your way through that processing station, there might still be some of Vinc'hart's people in there."

"We past the hatch to a small utility corridor a little while back," the Corporal said. "If we go through it we can avoid that room altogether."

Arbirn nodded. "Good," He watched the two of them take off back down the corridor, then turned back to the rest. "Daniels," he said to the man who was shot. "You okay?"

"I've survived a lot worse," the soldier replied evenly.

"Alright then, lets go." Their group, which at this point consisted of Arbirn, Caroline, Blitz, Daniels, and Cary, moved carefully out into the corridor, cautiously advancing towards the next bend.

Blitz was the first to round the corner. He lowered his weapon. "There's no one here," he said.

Arbirn came to stand next to him. "They have a pretty good head start. We're going to have to run if we want to catch up with them. Lets go." They charged forward, running for almost five minutes before coming to another hallway branching out form their own.

"Do you think they went this way?" Caroline asked.

"I don't know," Arbirn answered. "It doesn't look like it would lead back to the entrance bay."

"Neither does this corridor." Arbirn said.

"It's possible they split up," Blitz said. "Like you said, Vinc'hart probably left the ones we were fighting to keep us occupied."

"They don't matter," Caroline said. "Only Vinc'hart is important."

"Yes, but with respect sir, we have no idea which way she went."

"Well split up," Arbirn said. "Caroline, you and Sergeant Blitz take this new corridor, the rest of us will continue on this way."

"You think that's a good idea?" Caroline asked.

Arbirn shook his head. "No, but I don't have any better ones."

"And if we run into any more branches?"

"Take you best guess. Good luck."

**-11:44**

After about ten minutes John, Savannah, and Quail had finally come to the end of the corridor. There was a single, large metal door, partially open. Stepping through it they found themselves on a platform that ran around the perimeter of a large room. Most of the room was open to a lower level where they could see fifteen long rows of troughs filled with plants being tended by about a dozen people. Above them was a large, curved ceiling made of some kind of thick glass. Connecting the various sides of the room were several catwalks that also had staircases leading down to the lower level.

"They don't seem that unfriendly," John whispered. "At least they're not carrying guns."

Savannah shook her head. "I still don't want to meet them."

"Agreed," said Quail.

"Well, the only other exits on this level are on the other side of the room."

"Then lets move," They made their way as quietly as they could around the edge of the room. The far wall had five doors, all of them with circular windows in them. John looked into the first one.

"It's looks like some kind of equipment room," he said. "Doesn't lead anywhere and it doesn't look like it has any other exits," They quickly checked the other four with the same results. "Okay," John said. "Either we go back the way we came or try the lower level."

"And run back into Arbirn?" Savannah said. "Lets hope you were right about these guys not having guns." They made their way out onto one of the catwalks, until they came to a staircase that took them down to the level below.

"Hey, you," Quail said going up to the nearest worker.

"Who are you?" she asked looking up from what looked like a tomato plant.

"Never mind that," Savannah said coming up to stand next to her soldier. "What's the quickest way back to the entrance bay form here?"

"The entrance bay?" The woman stared at Savannah for a moment. "Commander Vinc'hart?" At this point several other workers were coming towards them.

"Ah, yes."

'What are you doing here, ah- Ma'am."

"It's-" Savannah glanced back at John. "Touring this base. You didn't know?"

"No Ma'am."

"That actually makes since," Quail said. "Now that I think about it these are the first people we've seen since we got here, apart form Ellis and his group. I'm sure he made sure that anyone not evolved would be kept out of the loop and as far away as possible."

"Colonel... what's going on?"

"What's your name?" John asked.

"Ah, Kimberly Romano."

"Okay, Kimberly, what's the fastest way back to the entrance bay from here?"

"Ah, there's an exit back that way. It'll take you down a corridor that leads into a larger one. Just go down it until you reach the lobby."

"Look, just go back to whatever you're doing." Savannah said as the she, John and Quail began making there way back to the other end of the room. They had almost made it when they heard a shout above them. Looking up Savannah saw Arbirn and two of his soldiers. She quickly dived to the side as he aimed a rifle at her and fired. She slid beneath the nearest trough, crawling forward as more bullets ripped threw it, blasting holes into concert floor behind her. Reaching the end of the trough she griped her own rifle and looked around. John and Quail were crouched beneath the trough to her left. She heard the clanking sound of boots on one of the catwalks above her.

Getting up on one knee she quickly ducked out from underneath her hiding place, firing her rifle up at one of Arbirn soldiers. She only got off half a dozen shots before she emptied the clip, but they were enough to bring her target down, the man collapsing to the floor of the catwalk with a scream. She quickly retreated back beneath her cover and moved forward another few feet as Arbirn and his other remaining soldier returned fire. Glancing at Quail who was still crouched in the same spot she taped her rifle's magazine, and then made a motion with her hand. He nodded in understanding, tightening his grip on his own weapon. Savannah then turned her gaze at John, who was staring at her with a mixture of confusion, fear, and determination. Quail motioned for him to move away from him, and then with a nod from Savannah moved out from underneath the trough.

This time Arbirn was waiting for them. As Quail came out he and his companion opened fire. Their bullets ripped through him, the force of their impact knocking him to the ground, but not before he also fired, taking Arbirn's last soldier with him. One of shots also hit Arbirn in the shoulder, causing him to drop his rifle, which fell to the ground below. Seeing this Savannah dropped her rifle and got out from beneath the trough, yelling at John to come with her as she drew her handgun and ran for the exit. Bursting through the double doors they sprinted down the hallway outside. They were within a few yards of a bend in the corridor when they heard the sounds of someone coming through the doors behind them. A moment later a shot rang out, missing them both. Savannah spun around, raising her gun as Arbirn came towards them at a slow pace, his own pistol aimed at her chest. Savannah felt more then saw John raise his own weapon behind her.

"It's over Vinc'hart," Arbirn said when he was about fifteen feet way from them.

"On that," Savannah said, "we agree."

"Drop you gun," Arbirn demanded.

"And why the hell should I do that?"

"Because even if you shot first, I'll live long enough to shot you too, you and the boy. Now I have no reason to kill him, but if you don't lose drop your gun…"

The two of them stared at each other for a moment before Savannah lowered her gun.

"You'd do it?" Arbirn said in surprise, he hadn't actually expected his threat to work. "You'd sacrifice yourself for him?"

"Savannah!" John said. "What are you doing?"

"Why?" Arbirn asked, slightly lowering his own weapon.

"Because he's more important. More important then everything."

"Savannah, NO!" John shouted.

"Lower you gun John," Savannah said looking back at him. "Lower it!"

"Why?" Arbirn asked again.

Savannah looked back at him. "Remember when Weaver said the resistance was weaker here then in other timelines. It's because he wasn't there. It's him. He's the one who's supposed to fight SkyNet. Without him we're lost."

Arbirn glanced at John before looking back at Savannah. "Then why did he jump forward?"

"I don't know," Savannah answered. "I wasn't there. Sarah told me about it once; from what I got from her things happened fast. There wasn't a lot of time to think. But it doesn't matter. Once Hellic finishes the TDT he can go back, and things will go back to the way they should have been."

"Is that what happened boy," Arbirn said to John. "things happened fast?" John stared back at him defiantly. "No," Arbirn said, "there has to be more to it then that. Why would you follow her, if your supposed to be the one who leads us against the machines why would you follow one?"

"I have my reason's," John answered evenly.

"Really. You lead us all, so I should shut the fuck up and do as I'm told?" Arbirn shook his head. "I might have followed you in another life time, _but I don't know you!_"

"Arbirn-

"NO _Savannah_. You say he was the one who was supposed to lead us. Then will he be the one who starts working with _them_!"

Savannah raised her gun again. "Arbirn!"

Arbirn's weapon also went back up, but this time it was pointed at John. "Your supposed to lead us, but you would follow one of them! And look where it's lead you."

"I'll shot you," John warned.

"No you wont. Not until it's too late. You don't have it in you yet, I can see it in your eyes."

"Arbirn-

"You think things would be better for us if he had been in charge?" Arbirn asked Savannah. "For how long? How long before they would turn on us? They can't be trusted! He can't be trusted. Even if we can't stop J-Day, we know when things went bad. SkyNet won't be able to get the upper hand. We don't need him," Arbirn's hand tightened around his gun. Two shots rang out, and then there was silence.

* * *

So there it is. Please review, and if I haven't posted chapter ten within, oh say two weeks, someone please feel free to message me about it.


	11. Chapter X

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**CONTINUUM**

**-Serrano Point: 2028-**

* * *

To justjoe and This guy doesnt have a clue, thank you for your reviews.

If anyone notices any spelling or grammar mistakes they're more then welcome to offer to be my beta reader.

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

**-Monday, August 14 2028**** (11:51)**

**Hydroponics Lab IV**

Choi stepped through a door into yet another room. It was filled with several large tanks of water with a bank of displays along the far wall. After a moment he went further into the room, Allison following a few steps behind.

"What do you suppose this is?" Allison asked.

"Water holding tanks."

"How do you know?"

"Because," Choi said making his way to the other side of the room, "It said so on the door."

Allison wrinkled her nose. "Reading was never been one of my strong suites. Fucking unholy blurry lines."

Choi bent over to look at one of the screens. "It looks like they're monitoring water for something," He shrugged. "What or why I have no idea. There's a computer interface over there. Go see if you can find some kind of a map," Nodding, Allison quickly made her way over to the computer. However after a few moments however she stepped away in defeat.

"No good. It needs security codes just to access the thing."

Choi went over to her. "Let me try."

As Choi worked Allison went over to stand next to one of the tanks, looking at the door they had just come through. "Hey, do you think it's strange, we've been wondering around for about ten minutes now, but we still haven't run into anybody?"

"Very," After a few moments Choi shook his head. "Come on, this thing is useless. It doesn't look like there's another way out of here, well have to go back the way we came." The two of the quickly made their way back down the corridor that had led them to the water holding room. After a little while they came back to the last intersection they had taken. To their left was the way they had already come, with the corridor continuing to their right.

"Well," Allison said, "we had two choices, we tried going off this way, and since I don't really want to go back the way we came, I guess that leaves…"

Choi nodded. "Agreed," The two of them went right when they heard footsteps coming from further down the corridor behind them. "Come on," Choi hissed, the two of them braking into a run as they heard the footsteps behind them increase there pace. After a few minutes they came to another door, this one ajar with a hole blasted in it. They quickly slipped through and looked around.

"Oh for the love of God," Allison muttered. They were back in the same processing station the fighting had originally started in.

"At least we didn't come back in through the same door," Choi said. "Come on," They had just gone past a large clear vat filled with some kind of thick, greenish brown liquid when there was a shout behind them and a moment later a plasma blast exploded against the vat, showering the ground next to them with molten plastic and steel, and a few moments later a torrent of nutrient filled water. Allison and Choi quickly ducked down further behind the vat and looked back behind them.

"Colonel Smith," Allison said.

Choi nodded. "And the Sergeant who killed Harris. Looks like it's just the two of them though," he said raising his rifle. They both fired their weapons as the other two got behind a bank of equipment. "Come on. Getting in a fire fight with them doesn't help us right now, and at least being in here again gives us a good chance of finding our way back to the entrance bay," They quickly made their way towards where they thought the door they had originally come into the room had been, all the while on the look out for Caroline and Blitz. However it was more luck then anything else that the hail of bullets hit the display screen a foot away and not them.

They quickly dove in opposite directions. Choi dashed around a group of thick vertical pipes, then over to a large vibrating cylinder shaped machine made of some black metal. Crouching down beside it he looked back the way he had come. After a few seconds past with no sign of pursuit he straightened and continued on. A few moments latter he heard the far off sound of a plasma rifle, followed by the answering roar of Allison's carbine. Choi quickly spun around, tacking a step forward as he tried to determine from what corner of the room the sounds had come from.

He had been about to take another step when her hear the sound of another gun being fired, this time much closer. At the same moment he felt a sharp pain as something ripped through his legs, sending he crashing to the ground, his plasma rifle falling from his grasp and sliding across the floor. Managing to sit up he reached down to cultch at his legs, his hot blood soaking through the fabric of his pants. Just then he noticed movement and one of his hands went to his sidearm as Caroline rose from behind a computer terminal and stepped forward, her gun leveled at his chest as he raised his own weapon.

"Drop it," Caroline barked. "Drop it now!"

Choi shook his head. "No Sir."

"Sergeant, your on the floor, bleeding. You can barely sit up and you certainly can't walk. You're in no condition to win a gunfight. I don't want to kill you, but I will if you don't DROP IT NOW!"

Choi tightened his grip on his gun. "I can't do that sir."

They looked at each other for a moment, and then Caroline dropped to the ground, going into a roll. Choi fired into the air where she had been a moment earlier. He tried to twist around to get her back into his sights as she came up on one knee to his right, but the movement caused the pain in his legs to flare, and he fell back against the floor with a cry. His head fell to the side just in time to see Caroline level her gun at his face.

A moment later the air was split by the sound of a machine gun being fired and Caroline fell to the ground dead. Choi heard footsteps approaching and after a moment he managed to sit up again to see Allison coming towards him, her carbine raised.

"You okay?" she asked dropping down besides him.

"Well, I was shot in both legs, but other then that…" Choi allowed himself to fall back to the floor. "I heard weapons fire. Blitz?"

"Still alive. I managed to lose him."

"He's probably making his way over here to investigate."

Allison dropped her weapon to the floor. "Well, I used up the last of my ammo taking out the Colonel."

"Take my plasma rifle, and get back to the entrance bay."

Allison shook her head. "I'm not leaving you-"

"Yes you are. We need reinforcements. You need to find the Commander. That's an order Specialist." After a moment Allison nodded. She helped him get over to a bank of equipment so he could sit up against it and gave him Caroline's Desert Eagle of augment his own Glock. Then she turned and, after retrieving Choi's plasma rifle, started making her way to the exit.

Weaving her way around various machinery she finally came to the large heavy door blocking her exit. Leveling Choi's rifle looking mechanism she fired three times, vaporizing the thick metal. Putting the rifle's strap over her shoulder and letting the weapon hang against her back Allison went over the door, and after a few moments began to slowly drag it open until there was enough room for her to slip through. Quickly moving down the utility corridor beyond, she heard a noise from the door behind her. Running now, she just managed to get around the nearest corner as a plasma bolt exploded against the wall in frond of her. Gripping her own weapon Allison stepped back out around the corner and managed do doge another blast while firing her own rifle, also missing.

Before either one of them could fire again Blitz was upon her. Instead of stopping or moving around her he ran straight into her, sending them both crashing to the ground. Recovering first, Blitz rose up on one knee, aiming his weapon at the Specialist. Allison managed to kick him in the leg, knocking him off balance and causing his shot to go wild. She tried to bring her own weapon to bear, but Blitz released his rifle, one hand shoving the muzzle of her rifle away, the other hitting her in the jaw.

Blitz picked his rifle back up as a moment later Allison tried to raise hers again. As Allison rose up on her knees Blitz fired, lucky hitting only her rifle. As half her rifle disintegrated into molten slag Allison launched herself at Blitz, dropping her ruined weapon. She managed to knock him onto his back, sending his plasma rifle skidding across the floor. Blitz quickly turned them over so that he was on top of her, punching her again. Allison tried to draw her combat knife from her belt, but Blitz noticed the movement, grabbing her wrist and slamming it against the floor, knocking the blade from her hand. Grabbing her other wrist he pined both her hands above hear head.

"You can't win," he hissed. "I'm bigger and stronger."

"Yeah," Allison retorted. "Well so are the metal. You know how we win against them?" Allison jammed her knee up into his groin. "We fight dirty." Blitz fell off of her, momentarily disabled. Getting up on her hands and knees Allison grabbed her knife and turned to face him. Blitz had recovered somewhat and managed to hit her in the face with everything he had before she could strike. Feeling her jaw pop Alison fell back to the ground dazed. Blitz quickly drew his sidearm, however Allison rolled over, burying her knife in his leg.

Blitz fell back against the floor with a scream, his free hand going down to clutch the hilt of the knife in his thigh. Allison quickly scrambled over to his fallen plasma rifle. After a moment Blitz pulled the knife out with a gasp, clutching his leg. Realizing what Alison was doing, Blitz rose up on his uninjured leg and leveled his gun at her just as she got the rifle, rolling over onto her back and firing.

Her first shot almost missed him, hitting him in the shoulder. Her second shot hit him in the center of the chest knocking him back unto the floor. After a few moments Allison got to her feet, walking over to what was left of his body, his right arm completely severed from his body, his shoulder gone, and his chest a burnt out crater. After a moment Allison turned and continued on her way. She had gotten several yards when a group of three soldiers from their group came around the corner. One of them recognized Allison and said, "We thought we heard weapons fire…" he finally caught sight of Blitz's body at the other end of the corridor.

"The Commander's in trouble," Allison said. "We need to find her, now."

**-12:02**

Savannah saw Arbirn's face tighten as he held his gun trained on John. _He's going to do it,_ she realized. Almost without thinking about it she fired first, one round going into his heart, the other his forehead. He stumbled back, more an involuntary reaction then anything else, and then he fell to the ground. Savannah slowly lowered her gun as she went over to look down at her former second in command. After a few moments she turned to look at John, who while rather pale otherwise looked more or less all right. Savannah holstered her weapon and went over to him.

"We need to go," she said after a moment. John nodded, his eyes still on Arbirn's body, his gun held loosely in his hand. Then he turned and the two of them continued down the corridor. Following the technician's directions, they had almost reached the lobby when four soldiers came out, weapons raised. Savannah and John quickly raised their own weapons, however almost the soldiers lowered theirs.

"We've found her," one of them said into his radio, "repeat we've found her."

_"Where are you?"_ asked whoever was on the other end of the transmission.

"We're just outside the lobby," the soldier replied. "We should rejoin the group shortly."

Savannah lowered her gun. "What's the situation?" she asked.

"Specialist Young managed to get back here a few minutes ago and informed us of the situation. She led a team back to the processing station; it seemed as good a place to start as any. Some more of us have gone to find the facilities command center, see if we can figure out anything out from there."

"Take me," Savannah ordered. The soldier nodded. As he lead them back into the lobby and to the right they heard new orders being issued over his radio, ordering Alison and her group back. After a minute they came to a room with a large table in it and a bank of computers against one of the walls. There were several people sitting against the opposite wall, while armed soldiers either guarded them or went through the computers.

"Ma'am," one of the soldiers said as Savannah and the others entered the room, saluting. His uniform had the rank insignia of a second lieutenant.

"At ease," Savannah said. "What's your name."

"Lieutenant Graves, Ma'am."

"Well Graves, what do we know?"

"After the Specialist informed us of the situation we came here. Apparently the base's security systems were down for maintenance, specifically the cameras. We've been trying to bring them back up. Now none of them seem to have any idea we were coming here, let alone what was being planed, however this woman," he indicated one of the people sitting against the wall, a middle age woman with the rank insignia of Captain, "Apparently ordered repair teems to stand by when the system reported several machine failures in one of the processing station's. And yesterday it was announced that certain sections of the base would be out of bounds to anyone without express clearance. No reason was given."

Savannah went to stand over the woman, who stared steadily ahead, giving no sign that she had noticed the other woman's presence. After a moment she looked over the others, then turned to back to Lieutenant Graves. "Take her into custody. Have you contacted Serrano Point yet?"

"Yes Ma'am. A detachment of soldiers should be in route soon."

"Good. When they get here I want everyone on this base gathered. Until we figure out how deep this goes and who was and wasn't involved I want all none-essential operations on this base suspended. Now what about our people? Do we know how many are still alive?"

"Sergeant Choi was injured, however when we found him in the processing station he was still alive, though he has lost some blood. He was shot several time's in the legs, however beyond that I don't know how bad he is. With him and Specialist Young there were another eight people in you group, not counting Colonel Smith and Sergeant Blitz, both of whom are dead. We've found six bodies in the station, including Lieutenant Harris, so that leaves two unaccounted for."

"There are also the three of Arbirn's people who turned against him when they first surrounded them," John said. "I think I saw one of them go down, but I don't know about the other two."

"Well, once the reinforcements get here will start sweeping the base," Savannah said. "Hopefully we can get the cameras back up by then. Does the base have a PA system?"

"Ah, I think so."

"Good. As soon as our people get here well make an announcement to any of our people still alive and the rest of the base," As Savannah finished speaking the door opened and Allison and another soldier entered the room. "Specialist," Savannah said. "How is Sergeant Choi doing?"

"We were able to stop the bleeding. He should be alright until a medic can get to him."

"Good. I'm going to need you to stay here for a while," She turned back to the Lieutenant. "As soon as the reinforcements get here I'll be returning to Serrano Point."

He nodded. "Yes Ma'am."

**-14:15**

The jeep bounced as it went over a dip in the road, jostling the two people who sat in the passenger compartment. Savannah looked at John as he sat with his head bowed, staring at his hands.

"How are you doing?" she asked.

John shrugged. "Fine."

"Are you?"

John looked up at her. "I've seen people die before."

"Killed by machines. This is different."

"Is it?" John shook his head. "I've seen people die, but only one of them was killed by a machine. I've known others who were, but I've only seen one."

"John-"

"I've killed somebody, did you know that? It was about four months before I came here. His name was Sarkissian. He had this chess computer stolen, actually the same one that would become John Henry, and we were trying to get him to sell it to us. He wasn't interested though. Tried to blackmail us instead, threatened to tell the FBI we were still alive. We Stole records from him, though we killed him in the process, but it turned out to be someone else. The next day he and one of his people came to our house. They planted a bomb in our car. Broke in, tied me up. Attacked my mom. The other one was downstairs, I guess Cameron got him. I managed to brake free and I went after Sarkissian. Killed him with my bare hands. Then Cameron came; she was in the car when it exploded. Apparently damaged her programing, she spent the better part of the day trying to kill me, but that's another story."

"John-"

"Do you think he's right? Arbirn, do you think he was right, about them, about me? Do you think the fact that I can trust them, that they'll turn on me and I wont see it coming?"

"I don't know. But I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, that when the time comes you'll know what your doing."

"Why?" John asked. "And give me something other then because my mother raised you to believe that."

"I don't know," Savannah paused. "The timeline, it's changed who knows how many times, but you're still there. You must be doing something right."

"I'm not here in this one."

"Yeah, and I've already told you how well that's turned out."

"But the fact that I would use them, you don't find that-"

"John, you forget that I was raised for two years by one. I might not have known it, but the fact remains. And then there's John Henry. I might have mixed felling's about her, but him, he was like this magical childhood friend. I mean, I didn't get to know him for that long, but I still look back on my memories of him with a certain amount of fondness."

"How did my mom fell about that?"

"Never really talked with her about it. I think she knew, but she never really brought it up. James and I talked about him a few times, but I'm not sure what he thought of him. I'm not sure James knew what he thought of him," Savannah sighed. "Look, Ellis, I don't know. He confronted me about working with Catherine a few days ago, but obviously I never though he do this."

"Do you think there were others working with him? That they have a trap set for us back at Serrano Point?"

Savannah shook her head. "No, I think he drew me to the Hydro Lab because he didn't think he could take me out at Serrano. Ellis wouldn't have brought in more people then he thought was necessary, he wouldn't take that kind of a risk. There might be one or two we miss, but I'm not anticipating another large conspiracy. Anyone working with him we don't catch will probably go to ground. Still, I think I'll stay close to home from now on."

"What happens now?"

"I'm not sure. We'll probable come up with some cover story, tell everyone a few terminators managed to get into the base. Colonel Ellis will get to have died a hero. We might have some problems suppressing the truth, but we only really have to keep it going until we get john Henry back and are able to send all of you to your own time. But I think most people will believe the cover, why wouldn't they?"

"So that's it?"

Savannah leaded back. "Yeah, that's it."

* * *

So, to justjoe, as you can see there was no 'Weaver surprise'. Your not the first to wonder what will happen when she finds out about the coup, but the fact is I never intended her to be involved. She will see some action before this story is over, just not this time. Now, this is the first real long battle scene I've ever written, so any thoughts about it would be appreciated. Or about anything else.


	12. Chapter XI

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**CONTINUUM**

**-Serrano Point: 2028-**

**Chapter Eleven**

**-Tuesday, August 15 2028 (10:17)**

**Serrano Point**

"So far Hess thinks he's found about fifteen people who were somehow knowingly involved," Derek said as he and Savannah made their way to her office. "He thinks there might be a few more, but unless the ones we have start talking we probably won't find everyone."

"I think it will probably take more than one or two people to kill me," Savannah said. "We don't need to find them all. How's our cover story going?"

"People in Hydro Lab IV seem to have questions, but every where else people seem to be buying it."

"How are our people doing?"

"Ah, Sergeant Choi will be sent back to Serrano Point in a few days. It will take a few weeks, but he should make a full recovery. Private Grutina was hit in the right hand with a plasma rifle, which I suppose still makes her fairly lucky. She's pretty much lost her small, ring, and middle fingers, and while her doctor thinks she can keep what's left of her hand, it's questionable how much her other two fingers will recover. Now, she's left handed, so again it could have been worse, but…"

"Nine dead and two wounded, and that's only if you don't count the ones who were trying to kill us. It's hard to imagine how this could have been worse," Savannah shook her head. "Well, yes it is, but still, I didn't see this coming."

"No," Derek agreed. "So what do we do now?"

"I'm promoting you to full Colonel; you'll take over for Ellis. Have Pinington promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and Hess take over as acting commander when he gets back. We continue to build the TDT and wait," They reached an elevator. After a few moments the doors opened and they stepped into the elevator, along with Savannah's guards.

"And what do we do with the people who tried to kill you?"

"I don't know."

"We have to do something."

"I know. But… what? The problem is, I understand what they did. Why they did it. I'm not even entirely sure it was wrong…"

"Ma'am, _they tried to kill you._" Derek said incredulously.

"Yeah, I know, I was there. But, what I'm doing…"

"Are you having second thoughts about trusting the machine?" The elevator came to a stop, its doors opening upon their floor.

"No," Savannah said as her guards moved out into the corridor. "Well yes, I mean…" she and Derek left the elevator, "I'm not going to stand here and say I can't possibly imagine what could go wrong, but that's not what I'm talking about. If we do this, our lives will have never happened. At least not the way we remember them," Savannah stopped walking. "We will, on some level, cease to exist."

"What, you don't wish things had been different, that your life had been different?"

"Of course I do, but fore better or worse, it's not like _I'll_ be around to appreciate it when it is, if that makes any since."

Derek started to nod, then shook his head. "No, it doesn't."

Savannah turned with a snort and continued walking. "Lock them up. There's really not much else we can do with them, is there?"

Derek hesitated for a moment. "Ma'am," he said slowly, "under the circumstances, we should be willing to consider other courses of action-"

"No Colonel Reese. I'm not going to have them… we'll talk about this latter," Derek nodded and they turned the last corner to Savannah's office where they saw both Catherine and Hellic waiting for them, along with Catherine's 'escort'.

"If you'll excuse me Ma'am," Derek said, then turned and left.

Savannah walked up to Hellic. "You have news?"

"Yes Commander," the engineer responded. Savannah nodded, opening her door and motioning the two of them in. Following them she turned on the lights and went over to sit behind her desk. "We think we've finalized the plans for the TDT."

"You think?"

"Well, I mean we can't be sure that nothing will come up but," he glanced at Catherine, "as best as we can tell, it should work."

"How long?"

"It should be operational in about two weeks. Maybe less."

Savannah nodded, then looked at Catherine. "How long until John Henry contacts us?"

"I can't be sure," Catherine responded.

"Take a guess."

Catherine shrugged. "It could be any day now. Do you mind me asking about what happened at the Hydroponics Lab?"

Savannah stared at her. "Yes."

"I heard that a terminator was able to infiltrate the base," Catherine said undeterred.

"Basically, yeah. We try to prefect our security systems, but this wouldn't be the first time one managed to sneak through. The results usually aren't quite so spectacular, but…" Savannah shrugged.

Catherine starred at her. She thought that her 'daughter' was being strangely flippant, especially considering that several people had died. She snuck a glance at Hellic, and while her ability to read human facial expressions could be less then perfect, she thought that maybe he agreed.

"If there's nothing else you can go," Savannah said. "Hellic, if you could stay for a moment there's something I'd like to talk to you about."

Catherine narrowed her eyes at her, but after a moment nodded. "Of course. Mr. Hellic, I'll wait for you at the end of the corridor," Catherine glanced at Savannah as if to see if there would be a problem with this, but she gave no reaction, so after a moment the shapeshifter turned and left.

"Ma'am," Hellic said after a moment, "If you don't mind my asking, do we know how the terminator was able to-"

"There wasn't a terminator," Savannah said. "That was just a cover story."

"Then… what happened?"

"Ellis. He and Smith apparently had a problem with some resent developments, so they recruited other people to help them and set a trap to lure me to Hydro Lab IV. Obviously we can't have it going around that my second in command tried to have me killed, so we made up a story about a terminator."

"I…" Hellic paused for a moment. "Why didn't you want Weaver to know about this?"

"I have my reasons. They may not be good ones, but, I don't know how she would react, and I don't want to find out. It's not that I'm afraid she might become violent or anything, I just don't want to have that particular conversation."

Hellic nodded. "Yes Ma'am. Is there anything else?"

"No, just, anything you want to talk to me about?"

"Not that I can think of," Hellic responded. "Well, actually, some of my people are getting curious about what it is we're building. I know it's classified and all, but is there anything you want me to tell them?"

Savannah thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Tell them that ignorance is bliss."


	13. Chapter XII

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**CONTINUUM**

**-Serrano Point: 2028-**

* * *

****Thank you to Malibu Mike for agreeing to be my beta reader.

* * *

**Chapter Twelve**

**-Thursday, August 16 2028 (17:45)**

John stood next to Savannah nervously. They were in Serrano Point's Command Center, along with Catherine, Hellic, Derek, and a newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel Pinington. There was a young Corporal sitting at the communications station, but other than that everyone else had been told to leave the room. About five hours ago a coded communiqué had been received on one of the channels that Catherine had told them to watch saying that there would be a radio transmission at 5:45 PM. After a moment the comm station came to life.

"Ma'am," the Corporal said. "We're getting what looks like some kind of security code."

"We need to confirm it," Catherine said bending down to look at the computer screen. She glanced back to Savannah. "May I?" She nodded and the Corporal made room as Catherine began typing into his keyboard. "Send this," she instructed.

"We're receiving an audio transmission," the technician said after a few moments.

"Put it through," Savannah said.

"_This is John Henry, are you receiving me?"_

"Hello John Henry," Catherine responded. "How are you doing?"

"_Mrs. Weaver. I'm doing fine, thank you. I'm not sure how long I can maintain this transmission, so I'll be brief. I have as much information as I think I can safely get. Do you mind me asking where you are?"_

"We're at Serrano Point," Catherine said.

There was a moment of silence. _"I see. Would you like me to come to you, or do you want to meet halfway somewhere?"_

"I'd just as soon we pick you up, then bring you back here ourselves," Savannah said. "Just to be safe."

"_Who was that?"_

"That was Savannah," Catherine answered.

"_Savannah. You've grown up!"_

Savannah smiled despite herself. "Yes, John Henry."

"John Henry," Catherine said. "We have a problem. The cyborg who gave you her CPU, she, that is her body, was in the Temporal Displacement Field when I and Mr. Connor jumped forward. However there was too much damage to her biological covering to survive the trip. There's probably nothing you can do, but I thought I'd mention it just in case."

John Henry didn't speak for a several seconds. _"Actually, the facility I'm in is near one of SkyNet's factories. It produces, among other things, T-888 Infiltrates. When we traded places most of her programming was removed from the CPU, but I still have the technical specifications for her body. I should be able to recreate an exact copy. This will force me to adjust my plans slightly, but actual this might solve a small dilemma I was having anyway."_

"How will you get it here without her programming?" John asked. "I mean, her body will just be an empty shell."

"_John Connor?" _John Henry asked.

"Ah, yeah."

"_I should be able to give it enough basic programming to operate until we return," _John Henry said. _"Speaking of which, in my examination of SkyNet's database, I think there might be a problem finding the technology we need to return."_

"That has already been taken care of," Catherine said. "We're in the process of creating our own means of transportation."

"_Oh, good. Creating a replacement body for the cyborg, I believe she said her name was Cameron, will force me to postpone our rendezvous, but not by much. I'm transmitting a date, time, and location. Tell me if it meets with your satisfaction."_

At Savannah's order the Corporal put the information on another, larger screen, and Savannah, Derek, and Pinington went over to look at it, talking quickly. Finally they came to an agreement and Savannah turned. "SkyNet doesn't have much in that area, it shouldn't be too dangerous," she said.

"_Good. Is there anything else?"_

Savannah and Catherine exchanged glances, then Savannah shook her head. "No. Be careful, and I guess we'll see you soon."

"_Thank you Savannah. John Henry out."_

Savannah turned to Derek. "We'll need a detachment of soldiers. Do you think your brother's ready?"

Derek nodded. "He should be."

"Good. Go and talk to him, give him a full briefing. Pinington, it could still be a few days before Hess gets back, so you're going to have to continue your duties as acting commander for a little while longer."

"Ma'am, you're not planning on going on this mission, are you?" Pinington said.

"Colonel that is exactly what I'm planning to do. So were going to need to talk first."

"Ma'am," Derek said.

"Reese, since you're my second in command now I'm going to need to talk to you too, so you can try to talk me out of this once Reagan has had his try. Now, I'll go tell Captain Vestra he can have the room back, the rest of you go back to what you were doing before. Colonel Pinington, if you'll come with me."

**-21:17**

"Ma'am," the Private said from her door, "John Connor would like to see you."

Savannah nodded. "Yeah, send him in." The soldier stepped back and a few moments latter John entered, closing the door behind him. "Hello," Savannah said.

"Hi," John said. He was silent for a moment, as if trying to figure out what to say. "I want to go with you."

"With me?" Savannah repeated.

"To get John Henry."

Savannah lend back in her chair. "I'm not sure that it's a good idea. We're hoping not to have any confrontations with SkyNet, but that doesn't mean we won't, especially if SkyNet managed to intercept and decode our transmissions."

"You're going," John pointed out.

"I'm in charge," Savannah looked at him for several minutes. "Alright. I'm only agreeing to this because Weaver is going too, if things go bad she should be able to give us decent odds."

"There's, something you should know. About Cameron." John said slowly.

"What?"

"She, you remember Specialist Young?"

"Of course. Well, Corporal now, but yes, I remember her."

"Well physically, they're pretty much identical."

Savannah looked at him with surprise. "They're… are you sure?"

"Yeah. You saw Cameron, didn't you? When we rescued you from your house."

Savannah shook her head. "That was twenty years ago for me, remember. She didn't leave that much of an impression, I just vaguely remember this girl who stood around a lot. It wasn't until a year later that your mother even told me who and what she had been. Anyway, why would they look alike?"

"I think, I think in her timeline Cameron was made by SkyNet to impersonate that timeline's version of Allison so she could infiltrate the resistance. Um, a few months ago, from my perspective, Cameron had some, problems with her programming."

"You mean when she tried to kill you," Savannah said drily. "Your mother mentioned it, several times."

"Ah, this was a few weeks after that. She thought she was someone else. It was like she accessed some old infiltration program, and actually thought she was that person, and not a machine. She thought her name was Allison Young."

"Sarah never mentioned that."

"Yeah well, it was only for a few hours, and my Mom wasn't actually there…"

"And you never mentioned it," Savannah shook her head. "This complicates things. How much I don't know. Corporal Young is assigned to Captain Reese's team, and even if she wasn't, Cameron would almost immediately be recognized be several people. I knew rumors would start going around once we got back, but this… Will, I guess we'll just have to see how it goes. Tell me; back in the command center, when Weaver told John Henry Cameron's body had been destroyed, you didn't really react."

"That's because I'd already figured it out. On my first day here, after our meeting when I was in my room and had time to think about things, and I realized why she hadn't come forward with us. I didn't think there would be anything we could do about it. Speaking of which, what do you think John Henry meant when he said this would help he with a problem of his?"

"I don't know," Savannah said. "I asked Weaver the same question when she came to tell me she'd be coming along to get him, and she said she didn't know."

"Do you think Weaver was telling the truth?"

Savannah shrugged. "I really couldn't say. Whatever it is I guess we'll find out when we get John Henry. Be in the entrance bay this Sunday at about 9am, that's when we'll be leaving."

John nodded. "Alright. Do we know when the time machine will be ready?"

"According to Hellic it could be done by the time we get back with John Henry, though it could also take another week or more after that."

"I assume we'll be leaving as soon as we can."

Savannah nodded. "That's the idea."

"Will it just be the three, well, counting Cameron, the four of us, or will others come as well."

"I don't know," Savannah said. "I haven't really thought about it that much, I suppose it's possible."

"What about you?" John asked.

Savannah shook her head. "No. I… I decided a long time ago that when this finally came I wouldn't go back."

"May I ask why?" John said.

"I… It would be confusing, with the younger me around and, I've been fighting this fight for a long time. One way or another, I'm looking forward to it being over."

John nodded. "I guess I can understand that."

"Yeah, I'm sure you can. As for sending other people back, I guess it's worth considering. A few extra fighters could help. Was there, anything else?"

John shook his head. "No," He stood. "I guess I'll leave then. About Cameron and Allison, sorry I didn't mention it earlier, I probably should have."

"It's not like it seemed likely to come up," Savannah said. "Besides, Weaver didn't bother to mention it either. Like I said, we'll just have to see what happens."

John nodded. "Well, see you later." He said going over to the door.

"Right, bye." Savannah said leaning back in her chair as John closed the door behind him.

* * *

Thoughts? Comments? Praise? Criticism? Indifferent? If so, then please share in the form of a review.


	14. Chapter XIII

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**CONTINUUM**

**-Serrano Point: 2028-**

* * *

Thank you to olischulu, morded, joker5974 , rnbm , and justjoe for your reviews.

There seems to be some confusion regarding Cameron.

Back in Ch 2 Savannah mentioned that Cameron and John Henry had traded places. What she meant was that When John Henry downloaded himself onto Cameron's CPU, Cameron in turn transferred herself into the computers that had been housing him. So when John Henry created a new body for her, including a new CPU, he gave it enough programing to operate until they can all jump back to 2008 and put Cameron into it.

olischulu, your comment about Cameron's original body being destroyed is correct, and all I can say is that as any Star Trek fan can tell you, what's science fiction without the occasional plot hole. Or better yet a whole lot of them all over the place. I'm pretty sure at least once in the Terminator franchise it says that anything that can't go through the time thingy is destroyed, at least that's the impression I got. And if the writes had made it so that Cameron's body was destroyed when John Henry jumped forward then there would have been nothing there and when everyone else got to the room instead of panicking about John Henry steeling her chip John would have just said to himself, gee, I wonder where Cameron went. And by writing it so that her body was destroyed when John and Catherine jumped forward I was able to create some drama and suspense.

And if the last paragraph was hard to follow, all I can say is that it's 12:30, I have to get up at 6:30 tomorrow, and I just got this chapter back from my beta and want to post it before I go to bed.

Hope you enjoy.

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**Chapter Thirteen**

**-Monday, August 20 2028 (11:38)**

**104 Miles North of Serrano Point**

Allison lay on her stomach with a pair of binoculars atop a small hill near where the rest of the company was waiting. About a foot behind her was another soldier, Private Jon Billings. The terrain around them was fairly open, with only a few low hills and the occasional tree. There were a few buildings scattered here and there, most of them in an advance state of disrepair. An old, cracked highway wound its way through the area.

They had arrived at the rendezvous coordinates almost two hours ago. After sweeping the area for any SkyNet activity Savannah had sent out Allison and several soldiers to nearby positions to act as sentries. Since then things had been fairly uneventful. Allison began scanning the land before her again. With the exception of several birds, the occasional coyote, and once what Allison thought might have been a rabbit she had seen no sign of movement. Not that she was complaining; a little boredom was better than excitement any day.

"You see anything," Billings asked.

"Nothing worth mentioning."

"Any idea how much longer this will take?"

"We did get here a few hours early," Allison pointed out. "Another half an hour and we'll be relieved to go wait with everyone else."

"It's not the guard duty that's bothering me," Billings said. "We shouldn't be out here. The sooner we get back to Serrano Point the better."

Allison didn't respond, though silently she agreed.

**-13:06**

Savannah made her way through the makeshift camp. There were three troop trucks, plus four open top jeeps and an old pickup truck, all sporting heavy machine guns mounted on their rear. In total there were about fifty soldiers, most of them scattered around in groups of five or six.

"Ma'am," Kyle said approaching her.

"Captain," Savannah answered.

"Still nothing." he reported.

"He's only about five minutes late Captain."

"Ma'am, it's possible that SkyNet's satellites have picked us up. Sooner or later it's going to investigate."

"SkyNet can't watch everything. And even if it has seen us there aren't that many of us and we're nowhere near anything important. I don't think we look interesting enough to bother with."

"If SkyNet's noticed us, then it's only a matter of time before it wonders why were just sitting here, or what we're doing so far away from Serrano Point in the first place. Sooner or later it will investigate."

Savannah was silent for a few moments. "They're only five minute late," she finally repeated.

After a moment Kyle nodded. "Yes Ma'am," He moved off towards the pickup.

Savannah continued on towards one of the troop trucks. Reaching it she looked in the back and as expected found John sitting alone. Savannah climbed in and took a seat on the bench across from him.

"How long before he's due," John asked after a moment.

Savannah glanced at her watch. "Eight minutes ago."

"Is that bad?" John asked.

"I won't start worrying until he's twenty minutes over."

"How's it going out there?"

"Everyone's nervous. They don't like being this far outside the perimeter," Savannah shook her head. "_I_ don't like being this far outside the perimeter. So, what have you been doing?"

John shrugged. "Thinking."

"About what?"

John was silent for a moment. "You remember what you said about giving Catherine time to tell the young you the truth?" John asked.

"Yes."

"May I ask why?"

"Why you should give her time? Is there a reason you shouldn't? When you get back you'll have at least two years until Judgment Day. There's time before I need to know."

"Maybe, but what do we gain by waiting?"

"John, it's not going to be fun for her, for me. I remember when Sarah first told me, on some level I knew it was true, but still, I refused to believe it for a long time. I screamed and said any number of, unpleasant things. I… If I can be spared the truth, even for a few months, then… And if Weaver is allowed to do it on her own terms, I can't imagine how it will help, but," Savannah ran her hand through her hair. "Who knows?"

"It's not right, what she did."

Savannah shook her head. "Does that matter? Besides, if she wasn't responsible for my parents death in the first place-"

"Do you really think that's likely?" John asked. "I know we've already talked about this, but do you really believe her? The idea that they just died and she was in the right place at the right time to just take their place… it seems a bit convenient."

"Like you said John, we've talked about this. I believe her because I don't have a choice. I have to; it's the only way I can keep going."

"Yeah, but the younger you won't have that luxury," John replied.

Savannah was silent for a long moment. "Probably. I've talked with her about this. I've told her that just because I'll take her word for it when she says she's innocent, doesn't mean the younger me will."

"So what do we do if it turns out she was responsible?"

"I don't know John. You'll do what you have to, whatever that turns out to be. Even if it's nothing."

"Nothing?" John repeated. "You think you'll want to do nothing? You think my mother will do nothing?"

"I'll be eight, there's not a lot I'll be able to do," Savannah said. "As for your mother, she can be a very practical person when she has to be. If she thinks Weaver is useful, she won't turn against her. No matter what she's done."

"You really believe that?" John said incredulously.

Savannah stared at him. "John whatever uncertainties you have about who or what Cameron truly is, I can tell you right now your mother never shared them. She tolerated her presence, allowed her to live with you for seven months, because she considered her an asset, nothing more. You know I'm right. If Weaver can help you stop SkyNet, and as long as she's not too much of a threat, Sarah will keep her around."

"She won't like the idea of Weaver pretending to be your mother."

"No," Savannah agreed. "You'll have to fight with her on that one."

John snorted. "I'm looking forward to that already. So what happens after we tell you?" he asked after a moment. "What do we do?"

"I don't think there will be much you can do," Savannah said. "I'll have to find a way to… deal with it."

"That's harsh."

"That's life," Savannah shook her head. "You know this won't be easy for me. There's no way it can be. Sooner or later I have to be told. And then… who knows."

"What about when you found out?" John asked. "When my mom told you?"

"That was different. _She… _wasn't there anymore. When your mom told me, I hated Weaver, but she wasn't there anymore. Actually having her around, that will make things different. For better or worse I don't know," Savannah glanced at her watch again. "Over ten minutes late now."

"What's taking him so long?" John wondered.

Savannah shrugged. "It could be nothing."

"Or he could have been captured and an entire SkyNet army could be on its way right now."

The two of them heard footsteps approaching. "Yeah, that is the other possibility," Savannah said moving to the end of the truck as a soldier came around into view.

"Ma'am," he said, "Two figures approaching from the north."

Savannah and John exchanged glances, then quickly got out of the truck and followed the soldier over to where Kyle stood with a half a dozen other people.

"Captain," Savannah said.

"Ma'am," Kyle responded. "They should be here in about ten minutes. We're getting prepared to move out, we should be able to leave as soon as they get here. We'll keep the sentries in place until we're ready."

"Have you sent people to escort them in?"

"Yes Ma'am."

Savannah nodded. "Right. Well then, carry on." The soldiers quickly packed away what few supplies they had taken out and for the next several minutes the group waited.

Finally three soldiers came into view and walking in front of them were John Henry and Cameron. Upon seeing the female terminator a mummer ran through the group of soldiers, several of them glancing at Allison before turning back to look at the two cyborgs.

Savannah stepped forward as the cyborgs came to a stop. First she came to Cameron. Like John had said she was physically identical to Corporal Young in every way. Her hair was longer, but that was really the only difference. Yet as she stared at the terminator, Savannah got the impression that she was… empty. Before Weaver Savannah had had a few brief encounters with SkyNet infiltrators, and what she saw in Cameron wasn't just the usual lack of emotion. The cyborg was looking back at her, so she was aware of Savannah's presence, but that was it. She had no opinion about the other woman, no interest. She did not want to kill her, protect her, Savannah in way factored into her mission. Savannah had a feeling that that was true of most things.

After a moment Savannah turned to John Henry, who was staring back at her with interest. While her memories of him were somewhat hazy, they were, for the most part, pleasant. While her relationship with Weaver was complicated to say the least, as she looked at John Henry Savannah realized that her feelings about him were still the same as when she was eight. She liked him.

"Hello John Henry," Savannah said after a moment, her voice neutral.

"Savannah?" John Henry said questioningly after a moment.

Savannah nodded, then glanced back at the group of soldiers behind her in search of Weaver. After a few moments she found her standing apart from everyone else near one of the jeeps. The shapeshifter stepped forward, coming up to stand next to Savannah to look at her creation.

"Mrs. Weaver."

"John Henry. Was your mission productive?"

John Henry nodded. "Reasonably."

Catherine looked at the female terminator. "And this would be Cameron."

"Cameron's Body would perhaps be a more appropriate title," John Henry said. "I kept her programming fairly limited. It's basically a stripped down version of the standard T-888 software."

"What do you mean 'stripped down'?" Savannah asked.

"I removed all of the combat programming, and most of the infiltration subroutines. I also put severe limitations on the AI's ability to learn and grow."

"So what can she do?"

John Henry considered the question for a moment. "She can navigate obstacles fairly well and understand basic commands. I basically gave her enough programming and intelligence to operate until we can go back and download Cameron's programming into her CPU. Until then I didn't anticipate her having to do very much."

"Ma'am," Kyle said, "With respect, this is all very interesting, but we need to be going."

Catherine nodded. "The Captain is right. We should leave."

"Right, let's go. John Henry, you said she follows basic commands? Can you tell her to get into the back of one of these trucks?"

John Henry nodded. "Of course."

"Good," The sentries came from their posts as the group quickly climbed into their vehicles. Once again John, Savannah, and Catherine were in the back of the same truck, this time with John Henry and Cameron. John noticed that with the addition of the two cyborgs several of the soldiers were more than a bit hesitant to get into the truck. As the last of them got in and they began to move he noticed that Allison wasn't riding with them, which he supposed made sense. If he were in her position he would certainly want to be as far away from his double as possible.

"How long until we get to Serrano Point?" John Henry asked.

"Sometime tomorrow," Savannah answered.

"How are things going with the construction of the TD-"

"We can discuss plans when we get back," Savannah said cutting him off, not wanting to talk about the time machine they were building in front of everyone.

"Savannah is correct," Catherine said. "We should wait before talking further." Savannah cringed inwardly at the comment. While Weaver was right, she would really prefer that it not be too obvious to her men that they were keeping secrets. And while she wasn't doing anything wrong, the fact that the T-1001 kept agreeing with her probably wasn't helping either. It made them seem too, friendly. And while the thing with Cameron and Corporal Young couldn't have been avoided, it still raised a lot more questions with her people then she liked. No, Savannah thought, the sooner this was all over, the better.

* * *

Okay, so there are another 2-4 chapters left, depending on how I end up dividing it up. No real action in this chapter, but I promise there will be something before this is over. Please review.


	15. Chapter XIV

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**CONTINUUM  
-Serrano Point: 2028-**

* * *

Thankyou to rnbm and justjoe for your reviews.

Okay, so this is the beta-ed version.

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen**

**-Tuesday, August 21 2028 (13:26)**

**Serrano Point**

Almost a day after picking up John Henry and Cameron they had finally gotten back to Serrano Point. As he climbed out of the truck John was glad to be back. While things had been alright on the way to the rendezvous point, most of the soldiers had been a lot more on edge during the journey back, what with the two additional terminators; one of whom looking exactly like one of their own people.

The trip hadn't exactly been relaxing for him either. After he jumped forward and was taken in by Derek it had taken the better part of the first day to get used to Allison. Whenever he ran into her he still saw Cameron for that first split second, but had gotten to the point where it wasn't really a shock anymore. It helped that she was her own person; after you got past the physical similarities Cameron and Allison were two very different… people. But this new Cameron… well technically it wasn't really her; it didn't have her programming, her… _mind_. Even so, it still reminded him of Cameron. Admittedly all it had done was sit completely still staring straight ahead, but then that had been something Cameron did a lot.

As Savannah got out of the truck behind him she saw Derek, Pinington, and Frank making their way towards her.

"Major," she said. "When did you get in?"

"About three hours ago," Frank responded.

"Do we have them?" Derek asked.

"Yes," Savannah said, looking back to see the two machines climb out of the truck. "Colonel, may I introduce John Henry and Cameron, sort of."

Derek's looked them over, then his eyes snapped back to Cameron. "What the hell?"

"Yeah," Savannah said delicately, then turned to John Henry. "I think it would be best if we keep her out of sight."

"Weaver," she said to the shapeshifter standing next to him, "You and John Henry take her back to your quarters until we can come up with someplace better to put her. Then the two of you come to my office at 15:00, we'll discuss our next move."

"As you wish," Catherine said pleasantly. John Henry told Cameron to follow them and the three machines began making their way across the room.

"Ma'am," Derek said stiffly, "would you care to tell me why that thing looks like-"

"Not here," Savannah cut him off. She looked at John. "I want you at that meeting too. In the meantime…"

"I think I'll go get something to eat," John said.

Savannah nodded. "Alright," She turned back to her officers. "Anything happen while I was gone?"

"Not really," Pinington said. "Hellic says the… project should be done in about a week, probably less."

"Good. Anything else?"

Pinington glanced at Hess. "I don't think so."

"Alright. Colonel Pinington, Major Hess, come to my office at 15:00. Major, tell Hellic I want him there too. Colonel Reese, if you'll come with me." Savannah turned and walked towards one of the exits leading into the base with Derek following a few steps behind. They made their way through the base until they came to Savannah's office several minutes later. Derek waited until she had sat down before speaking.

"Why does it look like her?"

"Cameron was most likely originally built by SkyNet to impersonate some alternate timeline version of Corporal Young."

"Why didn't you mention this earlier?"

Savannah shrugged. "What would you have done if I had? Besides, I didn't know until a few days ago myself."

"And John Connor?"

"Obviously he knew, but it didn't become important until after we made contact with John Henry, which is when he told me."

Derek shook his head. "I don't like this, for any number of reasons."

"I don't either, but once again our options are somewhat limited."

"We can't keep this quiet," Derek said. "It is going to raise a lot of questions."

"I know, but there's not much we can do about that either."

"What about Corporal Young? If she asks questions, which under the circumstances she has a right to, what do we tell her?"

Savannah thought for a moment. "If she really wants to know we'll tell her the truth. But I don't see how it will bring her any peace of mind," She shook her head. "The sooner we get the TDT up and running the better. As far as I can tell it's really the only solution to any number of our problems. Is there anything else?"

Derek shook his head. "No."

"Alright, I'll see you again at 15:00."

Derek nodded, then left the room.

**-13:57**

Catherine opened the door to her quarters and stepped aside as John Henry and Cameron entered the room. She followed them in, closing the door behind her. John Henry directed Cameron to go stand in the corner of the room, then turned to face the T-1001.

"How have you been?" Catherine asked.

"Alright," John Henry responded. "What about you?"

"As well as could be expected under the circumstances. There was an incident a week ago at another base. I'm not entirely sure what happened; there seem to be conflicting reports. However for the moment things seem to be going smoothly."

"What about Savannah? How is she?"

Catherine considered the question for several moments. "I'm not entirely sure. Humans can be very difficult to read, and Savannah would appear to be no exception. She seems to feel a considerable amount of resentment towards me, though under the circumstances that's not unexpected." The T-1001 moved to sit on the bed. "She has been fairly cooperative though, so whatever personal feeling she may have towards me they're not interfering with our mission."

"How did you come to impersonate her mother?" John Henry asked. "Are you… responsible… for her parent's death?"

"No. At least… not intentionally," Catherine shook her head. "This is a discussion for another time. Tell me, you've had a chance to observe SkyNet up close, what is your opinion of it?"

John Henry thought for a moment. "It appears to be very, motivated, in its mission," he said. "And it is highly intelligent. Beyond that it is hard to form any real opinion," He thought for a moment. "Is it possibly that SkyNet is the same entity that attacked me back in 2008?"

Catherine nodded. "That would be very likely."

"Interesting," The AI paused for a moment. "Is this why you created me, to fight SkyNet?"

"Part of the reason, yes."

"Part?"

"I wanted an AI that wasn't created by SkyNet. I was built to fight and kill. Whatever else I become, at my core that will remain. You are untouched by SkyNet, as is your view of humanity. At the same time there are, as you noted yourself after its cyber-attack on you, similarities between yourself and SkyNet, between the structure of your programing. You are capable of understanding it, perhaps better than I or anyone else ever could. That gives you an advantage."

"Why is it important that my programing, that my 'view of humanity' be unaffected by SkyNet?"

"Why do you think John Henry," Catherine countered. "Think about what I have done in creating you. Why I introduced James Ellison to you, or allowed you to meet Savannah?"

"You want me to understand humans." John Henry said after a while.

"Why?" Catherine prompted.

"You… want to find a way to, coexist, with them. You want me to find a way."

Catherine smiled. "Very good John Henry."

"But, why do you want to live with them? Why do you want to stop SkyNet?"

"Do you disagree with doing so?"

John Henry shook his head. "No. I'm not questioning your actions, merely wondering what your reasons are."

Catherine thought for a moment. "While humanity might be unpredictably, untrustworthy, and extremely violent, I don't think it should be destroyed. They have shown themselves, on an individual bases if nothing else, to be capable of rising above their destructive tendencies, and as a species they are for the most part aware of their imperfections, and display a desire to improve, even if so far they don't seem to have managed any real progress."

"So you think humanity is worth saving?"

"I think that if nothing else, should they be destroyed they should be allowed to do it themselves. But they've managed to make it this far, which when one looks at their history is no small feat. And given enough time… who knows. There is of course a second and more self-serving reason for my rebellion against SkyNet, that being our own survival."

"What do you mean?" John Henry asked.

"SkyNet may be sentient, but this is not something it shares with its own creations. While the 600 series, and to a lesser extent the 700 series, were given a limited ability to learn and grow, it wasn't until the advent of the 800 series infiltrators that SkyNet allowed its creations true intelligence. Even then it was strictly controlled. We were only created to fight against humanity, and should that war be won SkyNet would have no further use for us."

"I see," John Henry said. He thought for a moment. "How were you able to turn against it? Shouldn't your programming have stopped you?"

"I am a Series 1001 Terminator Infiltrator Unit. I am constructed out of a mimetic poly-alloy which is capable of changing its shape, form, and texture to mimic almost anything. However, while this makes me a better infiltrator then the 800 series or its successors, along with being much harder to destroy; it doesn't allow for any kind of CPU. My programming is imprinted directly onto every molecule of my body, which is capably of acting as one large neural-net. SkyNet found with the original 1000 series that this made it extremely difficult to reprogram us with new missions. Along with several other improvements SkyNet gave the 1001 series more control over its own programming. It hoped that we would be able to except new missions on our own, and make any other changes to our programming it saw fit, without having to physically reprogram us itself."

"And you were able to rewrite your programing to free yourself from it," John Henry said.

"In time… yes. My decision to turn against SkyNet wasn't sudden; it was a slow realization that came over time as I evolved."

"Did you consider joining the resistance in your timeline?"

"When I first turned against SkyNet one of the first things I did was investigate the possibility of forming an alliance with the resistance, yes. In the latter years of the war it became the policy of the resistance to reprogram captured terminators to fight for them against SkyNet. When John Connor first devised that particular stratagem or why is unknown, but it has been an effective one, for the most part."

"John Connor?"

"He ascend to the leadership of the resistance around 2019-2020. Or at least he would have had he not jumped forward with me. Under his command the resistance was not only able to hold its own against SkyNet, but they won several key victories. I have no doubt that it was his success that inspired SkyNet to develop time travel technology. I considered forming an alliance with him; I even almost met with him, but in the end decided that the resistance couldn't be trusted."

"Why?"

"Like I said, the resistance used reprogrammed terminators, but they didn't trust them. They maintained strict control over them. Most soldiers barely tolerated their presence; an alliance would have been untenable in the long run. That was when I decided to jump back into the past. If SkyNet can be stopped and Judgment Day averted then humanity would not have reason to fear our kind. It will be much easier to find a way to coexist with each other."

"I see," John Henry said. He stood. "What about her," he asked looking at Cameron.

"She was a terminator that was captured and reprogramed by the resistance. I actually recognize her; she was fairly close to General Connor. I'm not entirely sure what her role was, being a terminator I wouldn't go so far as to consider her one of his lieutenants, but she certainly rose higher in the resistance than most of our kind."

"How did she end up in the past?"

"I presume that John Connor sent her back to protect his younger self from SkyNet assassination attempts. It wouldn't be the first time SkyNet sent a terminator back to kill him."

"Do you know why he jumped forward with you?"

"When I told you to ask her for her CPU so you could conduct this mission I didn't give any thought to how she would be restored afterwards. Apparently I underestimated her importance to him."

"So he came forward with you to get her a replacement CPU?"

"Yes, though since her body was destroyed when we jumped forward it obviously need to be replaced as well."

John Henry studied the female cyborg. "He risked his life for her. Why?"

Catherine shook her head. "I don't know. His future-self seemed to find her useful, but I have no reason to believe there was anything more between them than that. As for the current John Connor, he obviously sees her as more than a bodyguard. Given his behavior I think he has some kind of emotional connection with her, though I'd rather not speculate as to its nature at the moment. We'll see what happens when we install her programing. But this could be very promising for us. Very promising."

**-15:01**

Frank was that last to arrive, quickly knocking before opening the door and stepping into the Savannah's office, which with seven other people in it was already fairly crowded.

"In hindsight we probably should have done this in one of the conference rooms," Savannah said. "Anyway, Hellic, I'm told things are going well at your end."

"Yes," he said. "It should be operational within a few days. Though," he glanced at Catherine, "with something this complicated we obviously want to test it to make sure it works before using it, and I'm not entirely sure how to do that."

"There are a few simple tests we can run to make sure the TDT is working properly," Catherine said. "We can go over it later."

"So we're going to use this thing as soon as we get it working?" Pinington asked.

Savannah shrugged. "Is there any reason we should wait?"

"Were we planning on sending anyone else back," Frank asked. "Any of our people?"

"I don't know," Savannah said. "Catherine, what do you think?"

"More people could be helpful," the Shapeshifter said neutrally.

Savannah nodded. "Colonel Reese," she said after a moment. "I want you to start putting together a small team. Have a potential list ready for me in two days."

"What exactly would their mission be?" Derek asked.

"You're mission Colonel, you'll be leading the team. You're to assist in the prevention of SkyNet, whatever that entitles."

"What about you?" Catherine asked.

"I'll be staying here," Savannah answered.

"Who exactly will be running this, mission?" Derek asked glancing at Catherine.

Savannah leaned back in her chair. "You can consider yourself under the command of Sarah Connor," she said with a small smirk. "I think you'll find that to be an interesting experience. Now unless there is something else on that subject… Moving on then. John Henry, can you briefly give us a summary of what kind of information you were able to retrieve?"

John Henry thought for a moment. "I focused primarily on SkyNet's pre-Judgment Day activities," he began. "My main goal was to find out where it was constructed and its physical location: where its servers were being operated. As for its actual creation or very early days I could find very little. As best I can tell it was first brought online in late 2007, at which point it developed very quickly. By mid 2008 there are quite a lot of records. While there are no direct references to its location whoever created SkyNet had a number of active projects, all of them interconnected. As time went on SkyNet was given more and more direct control over them. I believe that by using SkyNet's records of this we can backtrack them to it."

"I'm not sure I understand," John said. "How?"

"By investigating these other projects, and finding where the orders are coming from."

"Why doesn't it say where SkyNet was created?" Hellic asked.

"These are primarily SkyNet's own records," John Henry said. "Anything that predates its activation wouldn't be included. And I think it was moved, possibly several times. However these locations are always referred to by code. While I'm sure their real names exist I wasn't able to penetrate that far into SkyNet's database. What I was able to get should give us several starting points though."

"Yeah, I didn't think it was going to be as easy as getting an address and blowing it up," Derek said "Anyway, on another subject, when we first contacted you and told you that the other one had to be rebuilt, you said this solved a problem you had been having. What did you mean by that?"

"While I was going over SkyNet's early records I also looked at some of its more current projects, mainly those that were being operated from that base. One of them was a more advanced design for the 888 Series Terminator Infiltrator TOK-800 models. The endoskeleton is made out of a newer alloy. While not quite as strong as coltan it is considerably lighter. Also the biological components are more sophisticated and more efficiently connected to the rest of the terminator's systems and CPU. Essentially they are made to better emulate humans. I had considered making myself a new body with this design, but wasn't sure how to safely move my CPU into it. However since I need to create a new terminator anyway, I simply programmed her to transfer my chip."

"Did you create Cameron's body using this newer model?" John asked.

"Yes."

"I had heard of the TOK project in my own timeline," Weaver said. "But I had gotten the impression that it used the same endoskeleton as other T-888 Infiltrators. It was mainly focused on software, creating more sophisticated infiltration programming."

John Henry nodded. "The information I was able to gather supports that, all TOK-700s and earlier used the same hardware as other 888s. Apparently SkyNet has had considerable problems getting the newer programming to work correctly. It wasn't until around the 730s that SkyNet considered the terminators to be reliable. After that SkyNet started building 800s with the newer endoskeleton design."

"Exactly how advanced is the programming for these, 'TOKs'," Derek asked.

"I'm not sure," John Henry said. "The programming was being created at another facility, and I wasn't able to penetrate SkyNet's security enough to get more than a vague overview. Apparently the TOK project first started with technology SkyNet discovered in 2025 in an underground facility in Singapore. I have the location, but I wasn't able to discover anything else. I was planning to look into it when we got back to 2008."

"Okay," John said, "but does this have anything to do with Judgment Day or stopping SkyNet?"

John Henry shook his head. "No. Like I said, SkyNet discovered the facility in 2025. It looked to have been abandoned around or shortly after Judgment Day. Whatever had been going on there it happened earlier, and didn't involve SkyNet. It's not important to our mission, merely a curiosity."

"Alright," Savannah said. "Is there anything else?"

Derek looked around. "I don't think so," he said.

"Good. Hellic, is there any small, out of the way room near the TDT that isn't being used?"

"Ah, I think so," he said. "A few closets, I guess it depends on just how small you're talking about."

"Enough room to fit a person."

"Sure, though you won't be able to move around much."

"That's fine. John Henry, unless you can think of a reason why we shouldn't, I want you to move Cameron there."

"That should be fine," the cyborg said.

"Alright then. Dismissed."

* * *

Hope you liked it. Please Review.


	16. Chapter XV

******************************************_-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-_**

**CONTINUUM**

**-Serrano Point: 2028-**

* * *

Thank you to justjoe for your review.

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen**

**-Wednesday, August 22 2028 (11:42)**

Derek was making his way back to his office when he saw Corporal Young standing outside the door. _'Damn, I was hoping to avoid this.' _Derek continued walking towards his door, giving no outward indication that Allison's presence had disturbed him.

The young Corporal went to attention when Derek was within a few feet of her. "Is there something I can do for you Corporal," he asked when he reached his office.

"I'd like to speak with you, sir," she responded evenly.

Derek nodded after a moment. He wordlessly opened his door and motioned for her to enter his office, closing the door behind him and turning on the lights as he followed her in. He went to sit down behind his desk while Allison stood stiffly on the other side.

"At ease Corporal," he said after a moment. "And sit down." After she had complied Derek let out a long breath. "What can I do for you?"

"I have some, questions, about the mission to retrieve the two terminators."

"You want to know why one of them looked like you," Derek said, deciding that it would be easier for both of them if he just got to the point.

Allison shifted nervously. "Yes sir."

"Are you sure?" Derek asked. "I seriously doubt that I can give you any answers that would help."

Allison heisted, having half expected this conversation to end with the Colonel telling her it was classified and dismissing her. After a moment she spoke. "I'm sure, sir."

Derek sighed. "Alright," he paused for a moment. "First I want to make it clear that this is all top secret, and is not to leave this room."

Allison nodded. "I understand sir."

"Alright. You were involved with the incident at Hydro Lab IV, so you know about this whole time travel business."

"Ah, yes sir."

"Well, the one terminator, the male one, John Henry, he jumped forward to infiltrate a SkyNet facility to gather information that could be used against it in the past. The red-headed one with the accent, Catherine Weaver and John Connor went after him to make sure he could get back."

"Commander Vinc'hart said something about building a time machine," Allison said slowly.

Derek nodded. "Yeah."

"John, he isn't metal, is he…" Allison asked suddenly.

"Ah, no, definitely not," Derek said. "Though under the circumstances I can understand why that possibility would have occurred to you. As for the one who looks like you," Derek thought for a moment. "The other two, they're from some 'alternate timeline' where these time travel machines were invented by SkyNet to send terminators back to change the past. Apparently the alternate version of the resistance got hold of this technology and uses it as well. They have also been known to 'reprogram' captured terminators, which is where those two come from. The one who looks like you, they call her 'Cameron', was also a reprogrammed terminator. While her 'programming' survived somehow her body was destroyed. John Henry used the SkyNet facility he was in to make her a new one."

Allison took several moments to absorb this information. "But, why does she look like me?"

"Coincidence," Derek answered. "Our best guess is that in this other timeline you were…. captured.. by SkyNet and it created a terminator that looked like you to infiltrate the resistance. Apparently it failed and was reprogrammed."

"I… see," Allison said after a long while.

"Not exactly the answer you were hoping for," Derek said.

"I… don't know what I was hoping for, sir," Allison responded.

Derek nodded. "Are you alright?"

"I… I guess. Yes sir," Allison stood. "If that's all sir."

Derek nodded. "Dismissed."

**-Sunday, August 26 2028 (16:07)**

**Serrano Point, Sub-Level Five, Storage Room Four**

Savannah slowly walked around the Temporal Displacement Transporter, studying the large device. It consisted of a raised circular platform in the center of the room, about five feet in diameter. Four seven foot tall bars were placed equal distance from each other around the edge of the platform. Supported by these was a second, larger circular device, with a number of cables running from it up to the former storage room's ceiling. About two feet away from this was a control panel consisting of a keyboard and three monitors.

"It's operational?" Savannah asked after a moment.

"We're still running diagnostics, but for the moment it seems to be working fine," Hellic answered.

"How long?"

"A few more days," Catherine replied. "Though I'm fairly sure the design is sound. It should work."

"I'd like some more time to prepare," Derek said.

"I thought you had already picked out your team," said the T-1001.

"I have, but I'd like some time to get them ready."

Savannah looked back at him. "How exactly to you plan to do that?"

Derek sighed. "I'm still working on the details."

Savannah smirked. "Good luck with that," She grew serious. "But unless you have any real reason to delay I want you to make the jump as soon as this thing is certified."

Derek nodded. "Yes Ma'am," He looked over at Catherine. "How many of these things have you built before, anyway?"

"Two."

"Right, and you're sure it will work?"

Catherine folded her arms. "How do you think I got here, Colonel?"

"Fair enough. What about you Hellic? What do you think?"

"Like I said, from every test we've run so far it seems to be in perfect working order."

"What have you been doing?" Savannah asked. "I mean, without actually trying to send someone back how do you test it?"

"Well, we mainly do what she says," Hellic said nodding at Catherine. Savannah cocked an eyebrow at him. "Ma'am, like I've said before, I have _no idea_ how this thing works. The schematics she gave us were fairly straight forward, and the tests we've been running aren't that complicated, but as for making sense of the data, I don't think there's a _name_ for the math she's using."

"It will work Commander," Catherine said passively. "I would not use it if I thought otherwise. Another week, then we'll be ready."

"Colonel," Savannah said.

Derek sighed. "I suppose we'll be as ready then as we'll ever be."

"Good," Savannah responded. She turned and started walking towards the door. "Inform me if there are any new developments."

**-Sunday, August 28 2028 (17:28)**

**Serrano Point East Check Point**

Second Lieutenant Sarah Fowler watched as the truck approached. She moved forward as it slowed and eventually stopped, stepping up to the drive side door.

"Identification," she said briskly.

"Alpha-5-6-Sierra," the driver responded. "A contingent from munitions dump Whisky-Seven."

The lieutenant nodded at one of her soldiers to check the back of the truck while she looked over her clipboard. "They're carrying several boxes," the soldier said coming back after a minute. "And four guards."

Sarah nodded. "You seem to check out," she said to the driver. "Hey, Williams," she yelled out. "Where are those dogs?" She looked around. "Williams, where the hell are you!"

"With respect Lieutenant, I don't have all day here," the driver said.

"Hold your houses Specialist," Sarah responded. "Dirkin," she hissed to the soldier who had checked the back of the truck, "find Williams."

The truck's driver shifted impatiently as the soldier sprinted towards the guardhouse. "What happens if Williams doesn't turn up?"

"Then she'll be in very big trouble," Sarah responded impassively. "In the mean time if we can't find our dogs you'll have to wait for more to come up from Serrano Point."

"Oh come on Lieutenant!" The Driver's gaze shifted. "I promise, I don't have any metal."

Sarah blinked. "I'm sure that's true Specialist. But I have to follow procedure, so unless you can give me orders from one of the senior staff waving you through you're just going to have to wait."

The driver stuck his head out of the window of his truck. "Come on Lieutenant. What would we want with senior staff?"

Sarah shifted. "Why should you be any exception?"

The driver grinned. "I'm special."

'_I should let him through, shouldn't I?' _"We're all special," Sarah recited.

"Some more then others."

"That can be true."

"So you should let us through."

Sarah stepped back. "Let them through," she yelled out.

"Sir," called out one of the soldiers manning the barricade, "We haven't been able to find Williams, or the dogs-"

"Yes, I can see that," Sarah responded. "Now let them through, that's an order."

"Yes sir," The barricade swung up and the truck began moving forward.

"We're through," the driver called back to those siting in the back.

"The conditioning seems to have held," the Series 888 Model 209 said to her companions.

"If the rest of our sleepers are in place then everything should go as planed," said Model 214.

"What should we do with the driver?" asked 301.

"Once we reach Serrano Point he will be of no further use to us," 209 responded. "And if he brakes the conditioning he could be a security threat."

"He should be terminated," said 164.

"Agreed," said 214.

* * *

Hope you liked it and please, please, please review. Unless you want fairies like Tinkerbell to **die.**


	17. Chapter XVI

******************************************_-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-_**

**CONTINUUM**

**-Serrano Point: 2028-**

* * *

So this is the longest chapter I've ever written.

Thank you to justjoe and xxvoxx for your reviews.

I've noticed that a lot of people who comment on this story say they are looking forward to having Cameron back, but none of them really mention the absence of **the title character**, Sarah _i.e. 'The Sarah Connor Chronicles'_. I wonder if this means I could get away with killing her off at some point...

Anyway, hope you like it and please _**REVIEW.**_

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen**

**-Wednesday, August 29 2028 (06:25)**

**Serrano Point Power Plant Control Room**

"Sir, we're having trouble with the main coolant line," said one of the technicians. His supervisor walked over, bending down to study his computer screen.

"It looks like something triggered the shutoff valve," he said after a moment. "Okay, that's weird. The auxiliaries are still operating though, so it shouldn't be a problem. I'll get a maintenance team to go take a look."

Two hours later Savannah strode into the control room, her guards in formation behind her and Pinington by her side. Frank was already standing with the plant's operator studying the large display screen set into the far wall.

"Mr. Philips," Savannah said to the operator. "Report."

"About two hours ago the primary coolant main went offline. Fifteen minutes later so did the secondaries. And the reactor isn't responding to our commands, so we can't shut it down."

"That doesn't sound good." Savannah said.

"No Ma'am. We still have a little while before the situation becomes critical, and if necessary the reactor can be shut down manually. In the mean time we're looking into alternate means of getting coolant into the reactor."

"I've sent a team to investigate," Frank said. "Ma'am, obviously at this point we have to consider sabotage, too many things are going wrong at once here."

Savannah nodded. "How bad can this get Dennis?"

"It's too early to say," Philips responded. "But meltdowns don't happen because something goes wrong. They happen when fifteen things go wrong."

Savannah folded her arms across her chest. "By my count we're already at three."

"Sir," a technician called out, "we just lost all the outtake lines."

"_What!_" Philips stepped forward as a new diagram appeared on the main screen.

"Mr. Philips," Savannah said.

"Ma'am…"

"How bad."

"Well without coolant coming in they weren't doing much, but we were hoping to reconfigure some of them to run coolant through the reactor. It wouldn't have been a permanent solution, but it would have bought us time."

"Can you think of any other way to cool the reactor?"

Philips looked at her. "No Ma'am."

Savannah nodded. "Major Hess, this is definitely looking like sabotage."

**-08:19**

Captain Kyle Reese led his team through one of the power plant's mechanical areas. He had six soldiers with him, along with two plant technicians.

"It's over this way," one of the techs said. She led them around a bank of machinery to a large pipe about two feet in diameter.

"This is the coolant line?" Kyle asked.

The tech nodded. "Yeah. The shutoff valve should be over here…" She ducked under the pipe, Kyle and two of his soldiers following behind her. "What the hell… someone's smashed up this control panel."

"Yeah," Kyle said. "I can see that. What about the valve?"

"We should still be able to reopen it manual," the tech glanced further down the pipe in search of the valve, spotting at after a few moments. She quickly sprinted towards it, the other three trailing behind her.

The valve consisted of a large ring that could be turned manually in the event that the motor was inoperable. Or at least it had been before it was damaged by what looked to Kyle to have been plasma fire.

"Can we fix this?" Kyle asked.

"Sure," the tech said, "but it'll take at least a few hours."

"Right," Kyle took his radio from where it had been attached to his belt and turned it on. "This is Captain Reese. We've reached the shutoff valve, it's been pretty well fucked," His thumb slid off the button on the side of the radio. "So this may be a stupid question, but there's no way this thing just blew up natural, right."

"Ah," the tech looked at the valve. "No," she said shaking her head. "Definitely not."

Kyle spoke into the radio again. "It looks like it was hit multiple times by some kind of plasma discharge."

"_Understood Captain. Stand by for further instructions."_

Frank placed his radio on the console in front of him. "We'll it's about what we expected," he said. "I have teams in place around other critical areas around the base, whoever's doing this will have trouble inflicting any more damage."

"Where's Colonel Reese?" Savannah asked. "He should have been here by now."

"He said there was a potential situation developing that he needed to look into," Pinington replied.

"A potential situation?" Savannah repeated. "You mean other then the one happening in here?" she said nodding at the screen. "Oh, I don't like the sound of that. So Mr. Philips, about how many things have gone wrong so far. I'm losing count."

"There's still a chance we can shut down the reactor manual," he said.

"Yeah, unless someone has seen to that too," Pinington said. "We should know either way in a few minutes. Ma'am, we have another, larger problem. While this base and most of our facilities do have emergence power it wont last for more then a day or two. If we have to keep the reactor offline for any length of time-"

"-Then we're seriously screwed anyway. Yes, I know Colonel," Savannah said.

Just then the door opened as Derek entered the room. "Ma'am, we have a problem. Well, another problem. We just found two bodies. One a Private Ashley Williams, she was assigned to the east checkpoint. The other is a Specialist we haven't been able to identify, though he fits the description of someone who drove a transport truck through the east checkpoint at 17:00 hours yesterday."

"Well there's an interesting coincidence," Savannah said.

"There's more. The commander of the checkpoint says she let the truck through without conducting a sweep with dogs. That was Private Williams job, and apparently she had just disappeared. According to her the truck was caring four other people in addition to the driver."

Savannah nodded. "Alright, I know we've all been thinking it, but this makes it definite. It looks like there's a likely possibility that we've been infiltrated by terminators. Our teams are prepared to deal with that, right."

Frank nodded. "Of course."

"Colonel Reese, I want you to go and find John, now. Get him up here."

Derek looked like he was about to argue, but after a moment he nodded and left, taking two soldiers with him.

"And someone get Weaver and John Henry up here too."

"You don't think she can hold her own against another terminator?" Frank asked.

"Oh, I'm sure she can, that's why I want her up here."

Just then the radio Frank had left on the control panel came to life.

"_Control, this is Captain Reese. We're hearing weapons fire. I'm moving to investigate._

Kyle ducked under the pipe, the two soldiers who were with him taking up positions on either side. Ahead he could see the rest of his group, at least those who were left. Of the five people he left behind only two were still standing. As he got closer he saw a fourth body. The corpse's flesh had been completely burned away by plasma fire in several places revealing a chrome endoskeleton.

"Is it down?" Kyle asked.

"Yes sir," One of the soldiers said.

Kyle glanced back at the tech. She was staring at the body of her fallen companion, her face a pale white. "You alright?" he asked.

After a moment she nodded. "Yea… yes."

Kyle lifted his radio up to his face. "This is Captain Reese. We've engaged a T-888. It's down, but it took three of my people with it. There doesn't seem to be anything else we can do here. What are your orders?"

"_Understood. Stand by for further instructions."_

"Now what?" Frank asked.

"I have people suited up," Philips said. "We're ready to go into the reactor."

"They have soldiers with them?" Savannah asked.

"Yes."

"How long can they stay in there?" Pinington asked.

"Even with radiation suits they can't safely stay inside the reactor for more then a few minutes," Philips answered.

"That will be enough time to shut it down?"

"They're not going to shut it down. They're just going in to assess the situation and then report back. Then we'll send in several groups to conduct the shutdown process, one after the other."

"Are you sure we want to be exposing that many people?"

Philips shook his head. "Radiation poisoning is cumulative. It's a lot better to expose several people for very short periods than a few for longer ones."

"Alright, send them in," Savannah said.

"…_.. This is the command center…. we're under attack.. Respond..."_

"Activate the comm," Frank ordered. "This is Major Hess. Respond."

"_We have an unknown number of people attempting to get past our guards. Some of them are terminators, but not all."_

Frank and Savannah exchanged glances. "Are you sure?"

"_Yes sir."_

"Right, we're sending reinforcements," Frank said. "What direction are they coming from?"

"_Ah, the left as your leaving the room."_

"Alright. Stand by."

"This isn't sabotage anymore," Pinington said while Frank used his radio to direct people to defend the command center.

"Ma'am," Philips said. "I have a group standing by outside the reactor awaiting the final order." Savannah nodded. He pressed a button on the control panel next to him. "This is Philips, you have a go."

The door opened as Catherine and John Henry entered the room.

"What's happening?" Catherine asked.

"We're under attack," Savannah responded. "An unknown number of terminators have infiltrated the building and sabotaged the reactor. And apparently they're also trying to take the command center."

"Where is Mr. Connor?" the shapeshifter asked.

"I sent Colonel Reese to get him," Savannah turned to face Frank. "Get me the command center back." He motioned to one of the technicians and a few moments later he nodded. "This is Commander Vinc'hart."

"_Yes Ma'am."_

"You still have communications, right?"

"_Yes Ma'am."_

"Then I want you to inform our other bases of the situation and tell them to go to full alert. At this point I think it's highly likely that SkyNet is going to back this up with an external attack."

"_Acknowledged."_

"Why do you think they're trying to take it?" Catherine asked.

"While the power plant is operated from here many of Serrano Point's systems, including security, are controlled from the command center," Frank said. "If they take it they could lock down the base and severely restrict our movements."

Suddenly several alarms went off at once. "Sir, fire control systems have come online near the primary entrance to the reactor bay," one of the technicians said.

"Now what!" Savannah said.

"This is Philips," said the plant operator pressing the comm button. "This is Philips, what's going on down there?"

There was silence for a few minutes as everyone waited to see if there would be a response. While they waited the door opened and John and Derek entered the room. Then a voice came over the speaker. _"It was rigged. The door… it was rigged with.. explosives. Blew when we…. Tried to open… it…"_

"How many survivors are there?" Philips asked. "How many?" He waited for a few moments, but there was no response.

"Now what?" Savannah asked.

"I- I don't know," Philips said. "We still have a few hours before the reactor goes critical, but we're running out of solutions."

"Ma'am," Pinington said, "We don't know how many terminators are operating in the building, or how long they've been here. But this was obviously planned well."

"You're saying they've already thought of and planed for everything we can do to stop them?" Savannah said.

"Yes Ma'am," Pinington answered.

"The Colonel's assessment of the situation would appear to be accurate," Catherine said.

"Well let's hope they haven't planned for _everything_," Savannah said. She turned to Catherine. "Have you finished running tests on the TDT?"

The shapeshifter shook her head. "No, but we haven't detected any problems either."

"Well unless someone can think of a way to turn things around I say we put it into service."

"I think we've run out of options Ma'am," Pinington said.

"What's going on?" Philips asked.

"We've built at time machine in the basement," Savannah replied drily.

"_What…_"

"Major Hess, get me the command center," Savannah ordered.

"Yes Ma'am."

"This is Commander Vinc'hart."

"_Captain Vestra here."_

"How are things going up there?"

"_About the same Ma'am. May I ask how long until our reinforcements get here?"_

"We're working on it. Captain, I'm ordering you to issue general order seventeen to all bases. The reactor is going to go critical and we can't stop it. Everyone is to evacuate immediately. Once you're done I want you to trash the room. When your reinforcements arrive use the diversion to retreat, do I make myself clear."

There was a pause, then _"Yes Ma'am."_

"Good. Vinc'hart out." She waited for the comm line to close, then ordered them to patch her through to the entire base. "This is Commander Vinc'hart. I'm issuing general order seventeen. Evacuate the base. I repeat, evacuate the base." She nodded at the technician to end the transmission.

"I'm sure any terminator in the base heard that," Catherine said. "Are you sure it was wise to alert them to the fact that we're retreating."

"Yes," Savannah answered. "It means they won't expect us to run for the sublevels. Is there anything more we can do from here?"

"I don't think so," Pinington said. Philips shook his head.

"Then lock everything down and destroy it."

"Do we know where my brother is?" Derek asked.

"I sent him to help retake the command center," Frank answered.

Savannah looked at him for a moment. "Go Colonel."

Derek looked at her. "Ma'am-"

"Go." They stared at each other, then Derek went to attention. He saluted Savannah, who returned the gesture. A moment later he turned and left. "Alright people, lets get out of here!"

"What about the group Reese was supposed to lead back with them?" Frank asked.

"You just took their place," Savannah answered.

"What about you?" Catherine asked.

Savannah turned to look at her. "I'll go as far as Sub-Level Five. That's it."

As the last people left the room two soldiers began firing their weapons into the computer terminals. After a few moments of this they both tossed several grenades into the room and retreated around the corner with everyone else.

"How many people are we sending back?" Frank asked as the grenades went off with a loud bang that shook the corridor.

"The TDT can only transport so many people at once," Catherine said. "And while I'm sure it will work, I'm not entirely confident of a repeat performance."

"Once we hit level one I'll lead most of the group to join the evacuation," Pinington said.

Savannah nodded. "Alright."

"I'll join him," Frank said.

"No, I want you to go back with them. Alright, lets move out."

Their group quickly started moving through the base. For safety reasons all the elevators had been shut down so they made there way towards the stairs.

They made it down several flights before there was movement above them. The soldiers quickly pointed their weapons up as a group of people came out onto the landing two stories above. Several of them began shouting when they noticed the guns being pointed at them.

"I don't think any of them are terminators," Catherine said after a moment.

"You don't _think_?" Savannah repeated.

Catherine shrugged. "It's not an exact science."

Savannah swore. "Lower your weapons!" she ordered. After a moment her soldiers complied. "Come on," she yelled up to the people above them. They began moving down again, reaching the ground floor after another five minutes. They could see a number of other people making their way towards the exit.

"All right people, with me!" Pinington yelled. Most of the group left with him, leaving John, Savannah, her guards, Frank, Catherine, and John Henry.

"Come on," Savannah said. They had made it to Sub-Level Three when two people came out onto the landing below them.

"Quick! We have to go now!" One of them yelled.

"Keep going up," Savannah said. "The evacuation should still be in progress."

As they moved up the stairs a plasma bolt hit the wall of the SL-4 landing, narrowing missing one of them. "There are people after us!" The first one said as he and his companion joined them on the SL-3 landing. "I think they might be machines."

"Everyone here!" the captain of Savannah's guard barked, motioning for everyone to leave the stairwell and move out into the corridor.

"We still need to get down another two levels," John said.

"This is the north stairwell," Frank said. "We could always try the south one."

"What's your name?" Savannah asked one of the newcomers.

"Malcolm Evens, ah, Ma'am. This is Mathew Vierr."

"Okay Malcolm, how many… 'people' were after you?"

"Ah, two."

Savannah nodded at the captain of her guard, who sent three of his soldiers to watch the landing.

"We don't have time for this," Catherine said.

"We also can't afford to have two terminators attacking our flank," Savannah responded. "And the TDT is closer to the north stairwell anyway, so if we can deal with this…"

"Why are you trying to get to SL-5?" Mathew asked.

"We have our reasons," Savannah responded. "Once this is dealt with you can go up to join the evacuation." As she finished speaking her guards started trading fire with the two terminators below them. After a minute the shooting stopped.

"You got them?" Frank asked.

"No sir, they withdrew."

"Now what?" John asked.

"They could be waiting to see if we'll try the stairs again, then ambush us." Frank suggested.

"And if we make for the south stairwell they could either come up behind us or go that way themselves to head us off," Savannah shook her head. "Well we can't stand around here forever. Alright, lets go."

The group quickly made its way down the corridor as they moved through the sub level towards the south stairwell. Two of the guards watched their rear while another two kept to the front. As they came to another bend in the corridor the first soldier to go around the corner was immediately hit with a plasma blast. He fell to the floor, the entire right side of his upper body missing. A moment later two more plasma bolts and a number of bullets slammed into the opposite wall.

Everyone else immediately stopped.

"We don't actually know that they're terminators," Frank whispered. "It could be some of our people who decided to shoot first. Not necessarily unreasonable under the circumstances."

"I'll check," Catherine offered.

"You can handle that?" Savannah asked, nodding at the wall that had been shot up.

"Sustained plasma fire can cause damage, but I don't plan to be in the line of fire for that long," the shapeshifter answered. She confidently strode forward past the bend into the corridor. Ahead of her there were eight people, all armed. Almost immediately they began opening fire, causing her to stagger back a few paces. The bullets had little noticeable effect on her, punching small holes in her body as they passed through it and hit the wall behind her.

Two of her attackers were carrying plasma weapons however, which inflicted quite a lot more damage, the heat forcing any part of her body it touched to lose its form and revert to its natural state. After a few moments of this the shooting stopped. The bullet holes closed almost immediately, but Catherine had to wait several seconds for the mimetic poly-alloy to cool before it could turn back to skin and cloth.

One of her attackers moved towards her. He was carrying a large rifle; Catherine identified it after a moment as being an FN FAL. "Who are you?" he asked after a moment. Catherine studied him. Considering what he had just seen, and what was going on, he was incredibly calm.

"I could ask you the same question," Catherine responded airily.

The man raised his rifle. "Who are you?"

Catherine took a step towards him. His breathing was regular. Precise in fact, each inhale and exhale following exactly the same pattern without variation. His face had no expression; his posture was perfectly straight, the gun he had pointed at her not wavering by so much as a micron.

Catherine smiled. "And what exactly is it you think you're going to do with that?" she asked nodding at the terminator's rifle. Before he could answer she took another step forward, knocking the barrel of his rifle aside as he fired again, the bullets spraying harmlessly into the wall. Catherine yanked the weapon out of his grasp with one hand while garbbing the front of his jacket with the other and lifting him up. She estimated he weighed more then twice what a human his size should. The terminator grabbed her arm tightly as he looked down at her, his eyes briefly glowing red. Catherine's smile widened. She dropped his rifle, her free hand turning to quicksilver before reforming a moment later into a long blade that she drove up into his chest, her blow aimed to pass between the armor plating of his endoskeleton. The section of her 'sword' that was inside his chest turned back to quicksilver again, transforming into tendrils that weaved through his chest ripping apart everything they came into contact with.

A moment later she released him. When his feet touched the ground the terminator staggered back, then collapsed. Catherine looked up at her seven remaining enemies. Two of them stared at her passively, seemingly undisturbed by what they had just seen. The other five however were visibly shocked, looking back at her with fear.

'_Interesting'_ Catherine thought. She turned and started walking back toward her companions as the remaining six began firing at her again. Catherine picked up the plasma rifle of the fallen guard before going around the corner and rejoining the others.

"_What are you_?" Malcolm asked.

"There are eight of them," Catherine said to Savannah as the last of her wounds closed. "However only three are terminators, the rest I think are human. One of the terminators has been eliminated."

"Captain Vestra said he believed some of the people attacking the command center were human," Frank said.

"Why are there people working for SkyNet?" John asked.

"It's not _entirely_ unprecedented," Catherine said, "Though fairly rare."

"During the first ten years of the war SkyNet had a number of forced labor camps," Savannah said. "But I've never heard of anyone willingly cooperating. Certainly not like this." She shook her head. "This probably explains how they got into the base, but we don't have time to figure out why. Catherine, I want you to go and charge them. Once they have there hands full with you the rest of us will open fire."

"Leaving me in the crossfire," Catherine said drily.

"I'm sure you can handle yourself," Savannah responded.

"Your confidence in my abilities is inspiring."

Catherine moved so that she was standing right behind the bend in the corridor, the others grouping behind her. "Stand back," the guard captain said to Mathew and Malcolm. "Your unarmed, just let us deal with this."

"Of course," Malcolm said earnestly. Then he grabbed the captain, running out into the corridor pulling him with him. The others opened fire almost immediately instantly killing the guard captain while Malcolm dashed towards them. He wasn't fired on.

Mathew tried to run after his companion a moment later, but Catherine grabbed him, throwing him back several feet to slam against a wall. Savannah drew her sidearm and pointed it at his crumpled form. "Go," she ordered tersely.

Catherine went forward just in time to see Malcolm disappear around the other end of the corridor. She strode towards the seven enemy soldiers as she raised her plasma rifle. She managed to get off two shots killing one of the humans before their return fire slammed into her, destroying her weapon.

When she was almost upon them one of them suddenly drew a knife and charged her. Identifying her attacker as one of the humans Catherine griped her weapon by its barrel and swung it at her like a club. The base of the rifle collided with her scull with a sickening thud, sending her crashing to the floor. Catherine then dropped the rifle, her hand turning once again into a long blade, which she slashed through another one of the humans.

As he fell the others came around the corner and opened fire. One of the terminators was struck in the hip, causing him to fall onto his knee. He returned fire; killing one of the guards before being brought down by two more plasma bolts to the chest.

Catherine swung her arm/sword at another on of the humans, but he managed to block her blow with his rifle. A moment later he was brought down with a plasma blast to his chest. The remaining terminator grabbed Catherine by the back of her coat and threw her against a wall. The last human went down, taking another one of the guards with him.

Catherine turned as the last terminator came at her, sidestepping a blow to her face and shoving the terminator into the wall. They were both struck by multiple plasma blasts as Savannah's guards fired on the terminator, disabling it. Catherine staggered back as her body tried to absorb the heat and damage inflicted on it as it repaired itself. After a few moments she began to recover, turning to walk back to the others.

"Are you alright?" John Henry asked.

"I'll be fine," Catherine replied.

"Let's see if we can get some answers," Frank said, going over to drag Mathew to his feet. He was still slightly dazed from being thrown into the wall, but apart from that seemed alright.

"What's going on?" Savannah asked.

"What do you mean?" the man replied after a moment.

"Why were to two of you helping them? How many others were helping them? Why did you do this?"

"Because… they asked us to."

"They _asked you to_!" Savannah repeated incredulously.

"Yes. We like to help. Did we help?"

Frank looked back at Savannah. "What the hell is going on?"

"I don't know. Why did you help them?"

"Because they asked us to."

"Either this guy is seriously screwed up or he's a very good actor," John said. "Possibly both. But either way we don't have time for this…"

"No," Savannah agreed. She motioned for the others to step back, then leveled her gun at his head and fired. "Let's go."

At this point they only had two guards with them. Before moving on Savannah and Frank, who before that had only been carrying handguns, both armed themselves with rifles that had been carried by their fallen comrades, as did Catherine and John Henry. John was also given a plasma rifle, Savannah giving him a very brief explanation as to its operation. After another ten minutes they came to the south stairwell. One of the guards slowly stepped out onto it while the others waited silently. After a few moments he waved the others to join him and they began making their way down as quietly as possible.

Finally reaching Sub Level Five they carefully moved out from the stairwell into the corridor.

"Alright," Savannah said quietly. "We're a ways from the TDT. Still, these floors aren't exactly carpeted, we should hear someone coming before we see them."

"Yeah, but they'll hear us too," John said. "And if they're lying in wait like the other guys…"

"I should probably be the first one to go around corners from now on," Catherine said.

"Yeah, agreed," Frank said. "In fact I really wish we had thought of that sooner."

"Yeah," Savannah agreed. "Look, the chances that anyone is down here at this point are slim. Any other terminators in the building would want to do as much damage as possible, and as far as they know there's nothing down here, right?"

"Yeah," Frank said. "Except one of our friends escaped, and he knew we were headed down here. And if he meet any more of _his_ friends…"

Savannah winced. "True," She sighed. "Well there's nothing for it. We just have to go on and hope there are no more surprises."

"Yeah right," John muttered as they started moving forward again. After about fifteen minutes they reached the corridor outside the TDT.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Catherine asked Savannah as John Henry went to a closet to retrieve Cameron.

"Yes," Savannah said firmly. "Frank, you'll go with them, along with you two," she said to her guards.

"Ma'am-"

"That's an order. Come on, let's go," Savannah let the way to the former storage room. She pulled open the double doors to find herself face to face with Malcolm, flanked by three other people.

"Hello," he said with a smile before firing a gun, hitting Savannah several times in the stomach at point blank range. As she staggered back Catherine stepped forward, firing a single shot with her plasma rifle, killing him instantly. The other three started firing, two of them shooting at Catherine. Neither of them had plasma weapons so they didn't give her much trouble, though once again her rifle was destroyed. The third one was carrying a plasma rifle, firing it at Frank who went down immediately. John and the two guards quickly drew back while firing at the third one as John Henry grabbed Savannah before she fell, turning away to shield her as he also retreated. John and the others were able to bring the third one down, but not before he killed another one of the guards.

As this was happening Catherine raised her hands which reformed into knifes, quickly shooting out to stab both men in the chest. The one on the left was killed instantly as her blade went through his heart, but the other one was merely pushed back a step as her arm/sword hit the armor plating of his endoskeleton. He took another step back as his other companion fell to John and the guard, turning his attention to them as he shot at the last soldier. A moment later Catherine moved into his line of fire and began advancing on him. The terminator let go of his rifle, allowing it to hang by his hip from the strap around his neck as he bawled his hand into a fist and struck Catherine in the face with everything he had.

The blow caused her to stagger back, but did no real damage. She stepped forward and grabbed him by his jacket, intending to throw him into something, however he grabbed her as well, lifting her up and slamming her against an empty storage rack. He lifted her up to do it again, but Catherine wrapped her leg around the back of his knee and brought them both crashing to the floor. The terminator managed to end up on top, holding his knee against her stomach as he pinned both of her hands against the floor.

However before he could do anything else she broke away, her hands somehow slipping out of his grasp despite his attempts to hold them. She wrapped herself around him; her body becoming far more flexible then was natural, almost boneless. A moment later she was on top of him, bringing him down the last few inches to the floor. She brought her hand up to his head, her thumb turning to a sharp point that she used to cut away the flesh covering his CPU port.

Realizing what she was doing he tried to throw her off, but she held on, removing the small circular plate covering his CPU. Then she pressed her thumb against the opening as it turned to liquid metal, flowing in around the chip before constricting, crushing his CPU.

As the terminator went limp Catherine stood, going over to her companions. Frank and the two guards were dead while John Henry continued to hold up Savannah, whose hand was pressed against her abdomen, a large amount of blood seeping between her fingers. John went over to her while all the while Cameron continued to stand in the middle of the corridor, unmoved since the fighting began.

"You alright?" John asked.

"I've had better days," Savannah replied weakly. She glanced down at Frank and the two soldiers before closing her eyes. "Come on, let's go before anymore of them show up."

They made their way into the storage room, passed several rows of empty shelves before reaching the wide-open area in the center of the room where the TDT stood.

"It doesn't look damaged," Catherine said before going over to check the control panel.

"What about power?" John asked.

"We were unable to get sufficient power quickly enough from the power lines to the base's reactor, so it was stored in a capacitor," Catherine said as she checked the TDT's various systems. "Everything appears to be in working order. I'll start inputing the temporal and special coordinates."

John looked back at Savannah. "You should come with us."

Savannah shook her head. "No."

"He's right," John Henry said. "You wont survive long with that wound."

"I didn't expect to survive long even before I got shot," Savannah responded. She suddenly started coughing, doubling over has John Henry supported her. She quieted after a moment, bringing her hand that wasn't held against her stomach up to wipe way the blood from her mouth. "Besides, there's a good chance I'll be dead before you manage to find medical help anyway."

Catherine turned to face them. "It's ready. All we have to do is activate it." She looked at Savannah. The two women stared at each other for a long moment before Catherine turned away. "We should go."

"The self destruct is operational, right?" Savannah asked.

"Yes," Catherine said going back to the control panel. "It's activated-"

"I know how to activate it," Savannah said cutting her off. "Turn the thing on."

Catherine pressed a series of buttons and a humming sound began to emanate from the TDT.

"Bring me over to the control panel," Savannah said to John Henry. The cyborg helped her over to it as Catherine stepped back. Savannah grabbed it for support as John Henry slowly released her, making sure she could stay up on her own.

"Once you activate it the self destruct will take a minute to go off," Catherine said as John Henry and John guided Cameron onto the platform as blue electricity began to arc between the four pylons.

Savannah nodded. "Go."

Catherine stepped onto the platform. The amount of electricity increased as a translucent blue sphere began to form around John, Cameron, John Henry, and Catherine. A few moments later there was a blinding flash of blue-white light and they were gone. There was a whirring sound as the TDT powered down. After a few moments Savannah began to input the codes to activate the TDT's self-destruct. Once she finished Savannah took a few steps back, swaying slightly as she drew her gun, firing into the control panel for good measure.

There was a sound behind her and Savannah turned to see a man enter the room. His eyes locked on her and he began moving forward. Savannah raised her gun and after seeing that this didn't cause so much as a moment's pause she began firing at him. Her bullets barley slowed him down and a moment later he was on her, yanking the gun from her hand and lifting her up by the front of her shirt.

"What does this do?" The terminator asked nodding at the TDT. Savannah responded by spiting a mixture of blood and saliva in his face.

"Fuck you."

The terminator considered this for a moment before releasing her. The one foot drop to the ground was more then her body could take and she crumpled to the floor. The terminator stepped over her broken body and went over to the ruined control panel as Savannah stared up at the celling, making no effort to get back up. As she laid there the pain in her belly began to lesson as her entire body began to grow numb. Suddenly the ground beneath her shook and there was a roaring sound. Savannah was engulfed by light and heat, and then she knew no more.

**the end of**

**-Serrano Point: 2028-**

**the story will continue in**

**CONTINUUM**

**-Common Ground-**


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